Several times during the presidential campaign, opponents and commentators dismissed Barack Obama as “Obambi.” John Edwards privately told friends he thought Obama was weak. The Clintons believed he was too soft. So did John McCain.

At every turn, Bambi turned out to have sharp teeth. His path is littered with his opponents’ bones.

But now Obama is in an even meaner jungle: Washington. So the question arises again: Can Mr. Nice Guy make it there?

Obama promised to reach out to Republicans and change the tone. He reached out, but their tone didn’t change. They reveled in reviling his stimulus bill.

Forgetting how badly he got beaten, John McCain even went on national TV this weekend to say Obama needs to make a new start.

For Democrats, it’s painful to watch Obama being criticized as though he is to blame for Republicans marching in lockstep against him – at least in the House. (In the Senate, Republican Arlen Specter showed how powerful a centrist can be. The cancer survivor used his leverage to pump billions of dollars into the National Institutes of Health, probably paving the way for all kinds of life-saving and life-lengthening cures. That’s what I call stimulus.)

It must be tempting right about now for Obambi to turn into Jaws. He could just say:

All right, I did my best. I tried to change the tone. I extended my hand to the Republicans, and they bit it.

So let’s start over. And let’s get a few things straight: These are the guys who got us in this mess. Now they refuse to help get us out.

They’re against helping schools. They’re against better health care. They’re against fixing roads and bridges. They’re against alternative energy. They’re against a Smart Grid. They’re against helping the unemployed. They’re against a middle class tax cut. They’re against everything in this bill, and all they want in it is the same old stuff that got us here.

So let’s ask the American people. Who do you think is right: me or them?

Carter actually spoke to this very point in his recent post about Republicans in the North Carolina legislature: It’s fine to take stands on issues, but if you really want to get people’s attention you need a villain. Every narrative needs a good villain. It’s as old as the snake in the Garden of Eden.

So it would go a long way to satisfy my Democratic blood lust if Obama would take off the gloves and take off some heads.

But that doesn’t seem to be his style. Maybe that’s why he’s President and I’m not.

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