When will they learn?

From today's New York Times:

The issue [of debt reduction] will be a major theme of Mr. Obama’s nationally televised speech Wednesday night, as he seeks to respond to the public’s concern about the budget deficit.

But his responses so far, including the debt commission and a proposed three-year freeze on domestic programs, drew howls of anger on Tuesday from his party’s left, which objected to his exempting defense spending while putting Medicare and Medicaid on the chopping block. At the same time, he earned mainly derision from Republicans.

One wonders if Democrats will ever realize that running to the right gains them only derision from all quarters? The decision to exempt our bloated military budget from needed spending curbs is a cowardly bow to Republicans who have never been serious about reducing the national debt, even as they present themselves as the "party of fiscal responsibility." Indeed, the GOP is the only one of the two major parties with a significant faction that has expressed a desire to bankrupt the Federal government (as a means of killing social spending).