President Obama's greatest need is to escape the ideological grip of congressional Democrats and the liberal base of the Democratic party (they're one and the same). But he either doesn't recognize this or, as a conventional liberal himself, isn't so inclined. This self-inflicted difficulty has put Obama in worse political straits than President Clinton faced after the Republican landslide of 1994.

On January 27, the secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, was roundly criticized at a meeting of the House Homeland Security Committee. She had ducked the hearing, which was about the Christmas Day terrorist attack, and lawmakers were animated. The surprise was that it was Democrats doing most of the attacking. 

In April 2009, President...