Should Obama drop out of the 2012 race?

As President Obama's advisers are huddling to plan out the next two years, Democratic pollsters Doug Schoen and Pat Caddell have some probably unwelcome advice: "Obama should announce immediately that he will not be a candidate for reelection in 2012." Writing in The Washington Post, Schoen and Caddell argue that if Obama makes himself a one-term president he will be able to make unpopular choices for the national good, and get Republicans to go along by depriving them of their "highest priority" — defeating him. Is this a silly proposal, or is it just what the country needs? (Watch a Fox News discussion about Obama's reelection bid)

Are these jokers kidding? Many readers are probably wondering why "'Democratic' strategists" are "bashing their party" and giving Obama such "absurd" advice, says Steve Benen in Washington Monthly. That's an easy one — these guys are actually regular Fox News contributors who are huddling with Republicans. Whatever the motivation for their "tiresome screeds," they need to drop either the "Democratic" or "strategists" from their bylines.

"The Schoen/Caddell farce"

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Democrats should listen — but they will not: Schoen and Caddell were among "the first Democrats to admit the Shellacking was coming," says blogger Clifton B. at Another Black Conservative. And they're probably also right that the Democrats would fare better in 2012 if they tried to "remake their brand" with a new, more centrist candidate. But Obama won't drop out. If things continue as is, though, voters will make him a one-termer "whether he wants it or not."

"Washington Post: Obama should not seek reelection in 2012"

These strategists are only half right: "I have enormous respect" for Schoen and Caddell, says Jonathan Capehart in The Washington Post, but this opinion piece is bunk. A Sarah Palin–like midterm "political surrender" would just render Obama "irrelevant," and the idea that Republicans or Democrats would respond by getting things done is pure "fantasy." Obama should "govern as if he had one term," but not "actually give up halfway through his first of possibly two terms."

"The Palinazation of Obama"