"R-r-r-r-ight Away!" With a dire fiscal crisis bearing down on the nation and the need for closed-door negotiations and face-saving compromises for squeezed members of Congress never more apparent, President Barack Obama has embarked on yet another political campaign.

◼ Obama’s Perpetual Campaign: When Will The Nation Tire Of Not Having An Executive In The White House? - Noah Rothman/Mediaite

This time, he is agitating for public support for increased tax rates on the nation’s high-income earners as part of a comprehensive resolution to the fiscal cliff. But higher tax rates is the only policy prescription the president campaigned on in 2012 – if he has any mandate whatsoever from his victory, it is for higher taxes. Why then does Obama have to mount yet another campaign? For one, the path of stump speeches and pushing hash tags on Twitter is far easier than acting as a sober and authoritative executive behind closed doors.

Obama’s perpetual campaign has begun to assume some familiar characteristics. The president has already mobilized a tread worn social media campaign and will hit the road to stump Philadelphia and it’s collar counties in Pennsylvania. Surely, the president hopes those rallies will dominate the airwaves and increase public pressure on Republicans....

Republicans have signaled their willingness to compromise by increasing tax rates on high earners and Democrats have begun to see the light on the need for dramatic reforms to entitlement programs. But the willingness to compromise does not automatically translate into a forthcoming bargain. The president seems set on making the political environment toxic and to make compromise less likely in order to secure the notion that he won a mandate in November.

Obama may yet achieve an advantageous compromise or even complete capitulation from Republicans, though the president’s endless appeals for public support for his various legislative priorities redounded to the Republican’s benefit during his first term. But regardless of who “wins,” political comity in Washington and nationally must suffer from Obama’s perpetual campaign.