Of course, that argument would be more plausible if (1) President Obama hadn't petulantly announced that he was unhappy with the tax cut deal -- which will make it more difficult for him to take credit if it works; (2) if he didn't already have one enormous liberal behemoth (ObamaCare) to defend; and (3) if his administration weren't already advocating tons of hard-left policies in areas ranging from terrorism to illegal immigration.
Clinton was able to triangulate and win a second look from independents because (1) his base was moderate -- he was from the DLC wing of the Democrat party, not a former senator with a voting record to the left of Ted Kennedy's and socialist Bernie Sander's; and (2) he had experience working and talking with people to his right, who didn't always agree with him.
In contrast, Obama is from the far-left of his party, and throughout his life -- whether in Hawaii, overseas, California, Manhattan, Cambridge or Chicago -- he's swum only in seas of liberals. He doesn't understand the middle, and often gives the impression that he doesn't much like it.