Dick Morris: Why Obama Can't Triangulate

Now that President Obama has experi enced the same baptism of fire as President Bill Clinton did in the 1994 midterm elections, the obvious question is: Will he move to the center in a bid to save his presidency and win re-election?

The move worked well for Clinton: He sought to combine the best aspects of each party's program in a third approach that became known as triangulation.

But Obama won't follow suit because he can't, even if he wants to. Today's issues are different from those that separated the parties in 1994 and don't lend themselves to common ground.

Obama's programs have been so far-reaching and fundamental that any compromise would leave the nation far to the left of where it's always been and wants to be. When he took office, government (federal, state and local combined) controlled 35 percent of the US economy -- 15th among the two-dozen advanced countries. Now, it controls 44.7 percent, ranking us 7th, ahead of Germany and Britain. So where's the compromise -- leave government in control of, say, 40 percent?