Introduction: A Rock and a Hard Place: Between a Party and the People

Abstract

On December 7, 2010, President Barack Obama held a news conference to push back against the criticism leveled at him by congressional Demo­crats and liberal media commentators for compromising on tax legislation with congressional Republicans. Even though Obama offered an analogy placing Republicans in the role of "hostage takers;' he chided his fellow partisans, saying that Democrats were being "sanctimonious" for failing to see that their principles would result in economic policies that would harm the American people.1 Obama's admonishment to Democrats, which came less than nine months after his siguature health care reform bill ( the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) passed with a single Repub­lican vote, illustrates the fraught and contingent nature of presidential leadership in a polarized era.