Apparently, when the right wing talk about liberal politicians moving rightward, they call it "triangulation." That's what I've gathered from The Corner, which has spent much of the last day or so wondering about whether Obama will triangulate in time for the 2012 elections. It started here:

...he’s going to triangulate. How much is the question. His proposal today for a federal pay freeze is a move to the center in a decidedly minor key. But it’s also relatively painless. If he finds a half-dozen of these kind of moves, he might soften his image as a partisan liberal a bit. Not enough, though, which is why I think he’s going to have to come up with some sort of big proposal for not terribly credible budget reductions. Say, a 10-year plan that generates a fairly large number for savings over that period, but that backloads most of it to year 6 and beyond, when he’ll no longer be in office even if reelected.

And they followed that up with a warped history lesson:

Many of the foreseeable opportunities for Obama to triangulate reside outside of his control. For instance, as Ramesh noted in the magazine, Clinton’s rehabilitation began with the Oklahoma City bombing. He gave a good speech and then cynically used the tragedy to demonize the GOP and conservative talk radio.

It's funny; I thought Clinton's rightward turn came with the addition of David Gergen to his advisory team. But if they wanna say his rightward turn came with the demonization of the GOP...then that's...okay, I guess? And then they conclude:

Certainly, Obama will attempt to find a few issues that he can work with the GOP on, but Clinton caved on some core issues, including spending and welfare reform. At this point, does anyone really believe that Obama is intrinsically capable of not just backing away from some key issues, but deliberately and meaningfully compromising with Republicans in areas where he has already forcefully taken a position? That’s what he needs to do to recapture the middle. He needs to be the president he told everyone he would be.

So how's the triangulation going? After their first meeting today, Obama and Republican congressional leaders seemed polite and relatively happy. Which is great, because Republicans have totally been reaching out to Obama for bipartisanship...when they're not calling him "very, very urban."