No, President Obama is not overreaching

GOP strategist Mike Murphy argues in TIME magazine that President Obama is making a "titanic mistake" by governing as if his re-election campaign never ended.

He says that White House aides "are fundamentally misreading the political landscape if they think a barrage of fiery stump speeches and campaign-style advocacy will achieve anything in Washington. In reality, the it-is-always-a-campaign thinking will subvert any chance for a meaningful Obama success in his second term."

Murphy adds: "Showing the hubris of all things Obama, the White House has forgotten that while he won re-election fair and square with about 66 million votes, 61 million other Americans voted to fire the president."

While it's true Obama didn't win in an epic landslide, it's also true that the Republican Party is severely divided. And a split opposition goes a long way towards giving the president a bigger mandate than the final voting numbers might indicate.

In fact, National Journal reports that top Republicans think their party is on the verge of breaking apart and that "the GOP apocalypse looms larger than most realize."

Republicans are split between the Tea Party and the Establishment. They're divided between Washington vs. non-Washington. And they don't agree on whether they have a messaging problem or a policy problem.

All of this gives Obama greater freedom to push his agenda. By keeping his campaign alive, he helps ensure his opposition has trouble unifying against him.