It is oftentimes difficult to assess a political situation from afar, which is why so many of us, me included, rely on opinion molders to help provide insight. This is the reason I read so many opinion columns each day. Over the years I have learned to trust the perspective of certain experienced political observers. I can get a sense of what people are thinking on the far left by reading some writers, the far right by reading others. Every now and then, however, we get a situation that is so muddled it is almost impossible to make a sound judgment. The recent deal on the Bush tax cuts is one of those moments. Did Obama make a good deal, or a lousy judgment? Did the Republicans get what they wanted? Most importantly, what is best for the country?

Well, how do the pundits read the deal, and the President's demeanor in his press conference?

Paul Krugman thinks it sets up a situation that will create a sputtering economy just in time for the 2012 election, making it almost impossible for Obama to win reelection.

Yet Charles Krauthammer thinks the Republicans got rolled by the President who managed to get a bigger stimulus from this plan than his much reviled earlier stimulus package.

Peggy Noonan thinks that after spending his first year losing the center, President Obama has now spent his second year losing his base.

Meanwhile, David Brooks thinks the President has had a very good week.

Looking at recent poll numbers, Nile Gardner thinks the President is in real trouble.

So, what to make of all of this? Even the most experienced and highly educated people can trap themselves within the confines of their ideological tendencies. We all look at the world, not through rose colored glasses, but through the lens of our life experiences and ideational conclusions about how the world works. Paul Krugman is convinced the morally corrupt Republican leadership, in their ongoing efforts to protect the plutocracy, are using their cunning tricks to roll the President. Krauthammer sees a cunning President combined with a bumbling Republican leadership, too focused on the narrow task of scoring political points, combining to enact terrible policy. David Brooks sees Obama as a man still searching for the holy grail of bipartisan, middle-of-the-road, politics of moderation. We all see what we want to see.