The Obama and Republicans both agenda is a mush- tries to appeal to everyone, and in doing so, it appeals to no one.
The House GOP's agenda is centered on government spending and ways to roll back Obama's ideas such as the nation's sweeping new health care law. President Obama's agenda is taking knocks form progressive Democrats as the Republican "Pledge to America" is taking from conservatives.
To the extent that Obama has been constrained by institutions, Republicans need to learn a lesson or two from him. Governing with a multitude of coalitions is really tough. The Republicans who are going to be in power soon know that their policies helped to blow up the debt, that they facilitated earmarks, that they marched the country into an unwinnable war. Some even acknowledge that they are just as responsible for the collapse of the financial system, although no one has used the occasion to re-imagine capitalism for the 21st century.
Voters will expect Republicans in the House to pass legislation that Obama could theoretically sign. Voters will expect new ideas, especially for the struggling middle class. If they get none -- if they get the Pledge -- the party will have wasted another chance to actually move the country to the right through policy, rather than simply delaying an inevitable creep to the left. The House GOP doesn't get the vision thing. Maybe they don't need to to win an election. But conservative independents aren't necessarily going to be satisfied with the same old, same old. And neither will a general election audience.
