medved: it's the party, not obama.

"Republicans would fare better if they criticized the unyielding extremism of the Democratic Party as a whole rather than focusing on the president as a singular example of fanaticism. Conservatives overstate their case and undermine their own momentum with shaky claims that the ideological perspective of the White House qualifies as "unprecedented," "Marxist," "shocking" or "radical." His critics could rightly identify the president and his henchmen as conventional, Big Government, borrow-and-spend liberals — a designation that most voters understand (and dislike). He has aroused determined GOP opposition not because he seeks to lead the nation in unexplored and perilous new directions, but because he seeks to restore the misguided welfare state priorities that characterized his party, and failed, for decades."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/2010-04-27-column27_ST_N.htm