Patricia Zengerle and Eric Johnson check in on conservatives who supported Obama in 2008. Many are predictably jumping ship. Among the hold-outs:
Charles Fried, a professor at Harvard Law School considered one of the most important U.S. conservative thinkers, voted for Obama three years ago after advising McCain's campaign.
"He (Obama) is obviously highly intelligent, disciplined, well-informed and reasonable. But he has been disappointing as a leader and his decisions in the economic area have not been happy," Fried said.
Fried, who was Reagan's solicitor general, said he would support Republican long-shot candidate Jon Huntsman if he were the nominee, although he prefers the Democratic president over the rest of the Republicans.
If Huntsman were the GOP nominee, I'd be deeply conflicted. The others? Meh. But I should add this: if Obama runs merely on not being Romney and fails to offer a clear proposal for tax reform and continues to run from Bowles-Simpson, it would be hard to endorse him on domestic policy going forward, even though he has managed the catastrophe he bequeathed more than competently. His first term had to be about managing the onslaught from the past. His second term must be a specific vision of the future – with specifics and without cowardice: infrastructure investment and a radical tax reform are two proposals I regard as essential. Since January's pathetic dodge past his own deficit commission, he's been treading water. Another stimulus is not enough.
The Dish 