A reader writes:

Bill Kristol answered your question on Fox News:

KRISTOL: Yes. That's exactly what he did. We predicted this I think right at the Sunday, right after this show everyone was like oh, he's such an ideologue, he'll never move to the center, he can't do what Clinton did. Remember that debate that took place a couple of weeks after this election? Could Obama pull a Clinton? Obama's literally pulled a Clinton... he's standing there with Bill Clinton and they're accepting... Barack Obama and Bill Clinton stood up there and defended the Bush tax rates and the Republican estate tax proposal. Now just think about that for a moment. They weren't defending the Clinton tax rate. They weren't defending the Obama tax...

LIASSON: They were defending the payroll tax cut and...

KRISTOL: They were defending the payroll tax cut which is something Republicans have liked for a long time. Anyway, I'm saying this is from a policy point of view, this is a big move to the center by President Obama, following incidentally on his symbolic little freeze for government workers pay which is something Republicans have been for. The South Korean free trade agreement, something Republicans have been for. He's going to stay in the surge in Afghanistan. Remember that December review where Obama was going to begin pulling out. No way, no how. David Petraeus is in charge of Aghanistan.

So there you are. The voters won't hear, "We worked with the President," or, "We liked the President's ideas," The voters will instead hear, "See? You voted for us- and we stopped Obama from raising your taxes! Now throw Obama out- and see what we can REALLY do!" The Republican base, never strong on logically consistent positions, will eat it up. The Democratic base - that is, liberals - will agree and stay home, seeing no hope for their agenda in Obama. And the independents will compare the two parties' positions- and "tax cuts for the rich and cuts in Social Security" does not appear prominently on the Democratic platform. Net result: total Republican victory. And Obama on the unemployment line- along with a lot of other people in 2013.