and he and Congress have been helping them all along too.

Also, they're (unnecessarily this time with him, in my view) threatening him--if he listens and acts in ways other than demanded by the Village, he'll get the Clinton treatment. They do it to all Democrats--and never Republicans--but Obama is too new for them to be really sure he won't step outside the box (they're sure about Biden and Pelosi/Reed/others tho). Republicans are supported no matter how extreme or horrible or damaging their actions are, and are praised for acting out--Obama won't be, and they're making that crystal-clear every single day.

And they've invested way too much in pushing him and selling him as their dream president (much more than Dubya pre-9/11 for sure)--they made him, and they will break him if he tries anything they don't want.

a good take on the investment they've made in him --

-- "... But if Obama wins, these scribes know that they'll be facing the toughest assignment of their careers. They've all oversubscribed to the notion that Obama's candidacy is momentous, without parallel, and earth-shattering, so they can't file garden-variety pieces about the "winds of change" blowing through Washington. They're convinced that not only the whole world will be reading but that historians will be drawing on their words. Will what I write be worthy of this moment in time? they're asking themselves.
... So they're not as much in love with Obama as they're in love with the idea of Obama, of the "meaning" of his run for the presidency, of the redemption he offers a sinful nation that scratched slavery into its liberty-loving Constitution. ..."

-- Countdown to the Obama Rapture: Watch as the press corps battles its performance anxiety! -- http://www.slate.com/id/2203193/

(which will make the "knocking off the pedestal" part to come all the more nasty, i think)

...Are the best kind of people, right?

The Village always knew that it was harder to cajole Hillary into playing by their rules than it was for Obama. They knew that they were the ones that manufactured his character and held his popularity in their hands. What I've always wondered is if Obama realizes this symbotic relationship, or if he's stupid enough to believe that he controls them? Because, they are warning him by the day that they will destroy him if he veers from Village Rules. And, unlike Bill, Obama has nowhere near the strength to salvage his image after the Village goes on a rampage against him. Everyone knows that the minute the Village checks out of the Obama campaign, the house of cards falls.

There was some reporting (maybe, I'll try to find it) that said he was genuinely shocked by the presses reaction to Reverend Wright, something he shouldn't have been. Perhaps, the question isn't so much a two-sided "does he understand the relationship, or not" but rather "how well does he understand the situation?" It's my opinion that he understands it pretty well, but given how closely he's tied to them (closer than any president in awhile) he'd better understand even better about the relationship than he already does.

He's setting himself up for a showdown, with them. My question is whether or not he realizes just how ugly their first fight will be, and how readily and forcefully the Village will remove their blessing from him if he crosses them too greatly?

Sez who?

No one in that office can please the Village 100% of the time; no one. And, those that try set themselves up to please them fail 100% of the time. In other words, it's a relationship he should have never entered into in the first place. They complete him because he allows them to do so.

Please understand that I'm being ultra-meta with this one.

It may be opposing the Village over actual progressive issues, but even more likely than that, it will be some petty procedural showdown with the Village. You know, one won't like the others' tone towards them or some other kind of petty bullshit like that.

A Psychologist Helps Repackage Democrats’ Message -- http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/30/us/pol... --
"... Several Democratic consultants say it is the first systematic, data-driven effort to mold the language of the left to fit the sensibilities of the center.

Dr. Westen’s advice can be heard when Alisha Thomas Morgan, running for re-election to the Georgia House in a conservative suburb of Atlanta, uses the word “leadership” in place of “government” and speaks about the middle class instead of the poor.

Or when Andrew Gillum, a city commissioner in Tallahassee, Fla., who is fighting a ballot initiative against same-sex marriage, tells members of his predominantly black church of the human desire for dignity and respect instead of lecturing them on the evils of discrimination.

Democrats of higher office who have heard Dr. Westen have also shifted their rhetoric, as when Senator Mary L. Landrieu of Louisiana, fending off a Republican challenger, not only says that “health care is a right for every citizen” but pointedly adds, “Particularly citizens who are working hard every day.”

Dr. Westen advises jettisoning wonkish 12-point plans in favor of direct emotional appeals that can compete with those evoked by Republicans using terms like “family values” and “the war on terror.” ..."