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And very possibly takes his entire base down with him:

"Obama may have just ensured that he'll face a significant challenge to his renomination in 2012 from inside the Democratic Party," said Norman Solomon, a leader of Progressive Democrats of America. "By giving away the store on such a momentous tax issue, he has now done huge damage to a large portion of the progressive base that helped to make him president."

Mr. Solomon added, "If he thinks that won't have major effects on his re-election chances, he's been swallowed up by a delusional bubble."

Some think this move means that he's "governing as an adult" now:

The White House was careful not to extrapolate too much from one deal. Still, after Mr. Obama got passage of sweeping economic stimulus, health care and financial regulation measures with virtually no Republican support, this represents something of a break, and centrists and Republicans saw hope for a more collaborative two years.

"This is the first in a series of painful deals that the president will have to cut if he is to move us forward for the next two years," said Matt Bennett, vice president of Third Way, an advocacy group of moderate Democrats, and a veteran of Bill Clinton's White House. "It is proof that he is governing as an adult, looking for opportunities to negotiate."

Of course, this just kicks the problem down the road, as it will surely now dominate the Presidential campaign in 2012. As the always insightful, Nate Silver, of the popular polling outfit, 538, says:

The timing of the extension ensures that tax policy will be the subject of a vigorous debate during the 2012 presidential election. President Obama, presumably, will argue as he did in 2008 that tax cuts on high incomes should be allowed to lapse. Republicans instead will suggest that they should be extended again, and probably be made permanent.

Since most polls suggest that allowing the tax cuts to expire on the wealthiest earners is a popular position, some people have argued that Mr. Obama could be on solid footing in this debate. I am not quite so sure.

And this is how Nate predicts the debate will go:

See, this is proof that lower taxes work, I would argue if I were a Republican.

The stimulus -- all that government spending -- didn't work. It just increased unemployment. But keeping taxes low worked, and the economy is finally recovering. So why on earth would we want to raise anyone's taxes now?

There are any number of problems with this argument, not least of which is that a large portion of the 2009 fiscal stimulus itself consisted of tax cuts. And if the Republicans are not careful about making the argument, the message -- essentially, let's not change course -- might read as an endorsement of divided government: Republicans in Congress, but Mr. Obama still in the White House.

The only thing certain is that Presidential campaigns are extremely difficult to predict. This moment does seem to be a game changer with President Obama and his base, though. He might just find himself with a challenger, not unlike Jimmy Carter in 1980 when Teddy Kennedy challenged him from the left.

We shall see...we shall see...

postscript -- The President Dresses Down 'Sanctimonious' And 'Purist' Progressives:

What he's talking about is with regard to the Health Care Reform package passed last year and has less relevance in this $60 billion give-away to the richest 2% of the population, not to mention the added bonus of lowering the estate tax on 39,000 of America's richest families.

Nonetheless, as David Kurtz says over at TPM Media:

Today, he very clearly and loudly said: that savior persona is not me. I am the pragmatist. And you know what, I don't have a whole lot of patience for the idealists. I share their ideals, but I don't share their approach and I'm not going to get bogged down in recriminations over not living up to some abstract ideal.

I don't think this a change in the fundamental truth of who he is or of what his politics are, but with today's press conference the pretense that he might yet be someone else was finally dropped. Not only was he announcing that this is who I am, but he was also effectively declaring, I am not that other guy.

That's a significant change in his personal narrative and as I say a change I suspect in the public narrative of his presidency going forward.

The next two years will be very interesting in Washington. Indeedy...

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