It's one thing I've been trying to tell my conservative friends for years about Obama; he has no principles, no set ideology, no governing philosophy. If throwing liberals under the bus is a means to achieve power, he will do it - as he is doing now, and will continue to do until the election. 

Andrew Malcolm:

The nation's top talker uttered 4,526 words in those remarks. He said "balanced approach" seven times, three times in a single paragraph.

That's the giveaway. Obviously, David Plouffe and the incumbent's strategists have been polling phrases for use in this ongoing debt duel, which is more about 2012 now than 2011. "Balanced approach" is no sweet talk for old Bernie or tea sippers on the other side.

Obama is running for the center already, aiming for the independents who played such a crucial role in his victorious coalition in 2008. They were the first to start abandoning the good ship Obama back in 2009 when all the ex-state senator could do was talk about healthcare, when jobs and the economy were the peoples' priority.

Democrats lost the New Jersey and Virginia governor's offices largely as a result of that and Ted Kennedy's Senate seat in Massachusetts. And then came last November's midterms when voters chose the approach of that historic pack of House-bound Republicans.

Yes, his political instincts take him to the far left. But he is a slave to ambition and if that means ignoring the 20% of Americans who make up the far, and farther left in service to an agenda that would give him a fighting chance with independents, he will do it in a heartbeat.

It's what's going to make him hard to beat despite the catastrophic economy.