No, really, that’s how it was put:

President Barack Obama returned Friday to a trusted tactic — satisfying his political allies by not doing something.

Conservatives were angry when Janet Napolitano announced the administration would stop deporting certain undocumented immigrants, but they should have seen it coming. On issue after issue — gay rights, drug enforcement, Internet gambling, school achievement standards — the administration has chosen to achieve its goals by a method best described as passive-aggressive.

…and it’s pretty apropos, too. Kind of surprising of Politico to admit it, in fact. Mind you, Politico is just a bit too quick to pin Barack Obama’s problems on a divided Congress; as usual, the Beltway is trying its best to pretend that Barack Obama’s term of office started in January of 2011. There’s also the problem that Politico brought up Bush’s signing statements without also noting that Barack Obama readily broke a campaign promise* and started issuing his own. But at least Politico’s admitting that the President isn’t exactly showing leadership. Or resolution. Or even elementary courage, come to think of it. Admittedly, we already knew all of that, but it’s nice that other folks are owning up to knowing all of that, too.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

PS: The phrase ‘Imperial Presidency’ was used to refer to Barack Obama in this article. In a non-ironic fashion. By a progressive. Who was willing to be quoted by name. Truly, the bloom is off of the rose.

*Barack Obama breaks a lot of promises. His word is not very good.