When Democrats waver on an Obama move, Republicans should pounce.

Issue One: Chas Freeman. Greg Sargent writes:

A senior Democratic aide tells me that the latest news about Freeman is being discussed at the highest ranks of Congress, and he says that Democratic leaders in both the House and Senate have privately expressed concerns to Obama administration officials about him.
This has the potential to become a major problem. The White House hasn’t really publicly defended Freeman, and the question of whether the White House will stick by him is emerging as a key test of whether the Obama administration will buck the pro-Israel lobby and the neocons who are turning up the heat on him.

Do you really have to be a ”neocon” to worry about a guy who’s effectively been working for the Saudis, who served on the board of an oil company effectively owned by the Chinese government, and who argued that Beijing should have cracked down faster on Tiananmen Square protesters?

I mean, when the American government is only the third most recent government you’ve been collecting a paycheck from, should you really be in charge of intelligence analysis?

Issues Two and Three: Obama’s horrific plan to reduce the deduction level for charitable contributions in the top two tax brackets as well as reducing mortgage deductions. Stephanopoulos calls it “almost DOA.”

To pay for half of his $634 billion health reform fund, President Barack Obama has proposed limiting itemized tax deductions — from mortgage interest to charitable deductions — for wealthier Americans starting in 2011.
The plan may not be dead-on-arrival — but it is pretty close.
In my reporting across Capitol Hill today, I couldn’t find any strong support for the plan.

Three easy victories here if Republicans can build a coalition with Democrats not comfortable with these Obama moves . . .