Good politicians, like Ike and JFK (and yes, our Bill Clinton), use the landscape around them to shape coalitions that sustain them in power. Great politicians, like Reagan and Franklin D. Roosevelt, refashion the landscape, creating realignments that survive them by decades.

Obama, by contrast, has done something different: He first formed, and then shredded, his own coalition, creating wedge issues that splintered his party, with no help from opponents at all.

In the wake of the collapse of the health care endeavor, rancor has bloomed on all sides. The Associated Press writes of "Democrat-vs.-Democrat anger" in all sorts of venues. Politico mentions "signs of strain" between Harry Reid and the White House, and notes that relations between Democrats in the House and the Senate hover between disdain and hostility.

"We have to wait for the House of Lords to do their contemplating," says Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., dissing the Senate. "Reid is done, he's going to lose," says Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev. Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., tells the press that the Senate is "broken." To this, Harry Reid answers, "I could give you a few comments on how I feel about the House."

Much as they all seem to hate one another, members of the House and the Senate are all under siege by the bloggers and activists for putting their careers and constituents over the ideals of the bloggers and activists -- by refusing the use of some dubious measures to ram the Senate's unsavory bill through the House.