Centrist 'head fake'?

Barack Obama may be doing "a gigantic head fake" with his (alleged) centrist moves, but Jennifer Rubin's worried:

To say that the Republicans lack both a message and leaders is to understate the depth of the problem: if Obama has his way they will lack a reason for existence.
There is a glaring irony here. The greatest champion of liberals (they thought) is on the verge of repudiating their agenda. But he is also undermining the opposition. The result may be that centrist nirvana which many have pined for these many years. Or the whole enterprise may falter as Obama is beset by both sides, corruption besmirches the entire Democratic Party, and the economic recession engulfs all incumbents. But there is reason, dare I say hope, that the Obama administration will deliver far less than the Left anticipated and the Right feared. That’s probably good for the country, and just awful for the angry Left and the future prospects of the GOP.

Jennifer is young, and probably doesn't remember how the last "centrist" Democratic president alienated nearly everyone during his first two years in office. She is certainly not old enough to remember the naive but widespread pre-inaugural belief that Jimmy Carter was a "centrist" Democrat.

If there is one thing I've learned about politics, it's this: People who say of presidential elections, "I vote for the man, not the party," are the biggest fools on earth. When you elect a president, you elect his party.

A Democratic president will appoint a Democratic Cabinet, enact Democratic policies, and push Democratic legislation. You can take that to the bank. There will therefore be plenty of opportunities for principled opposition by the GOP. The challenge for Republicans is simply to remember why they're Republicans.