President Obama and the Median Voter Model

In 1957 Anthony Downs wrote An Economic Theory of Democracy which became a seminal work in the area of Public Choice Economics.  In that book he expanded on the median voter model, which became an important model for examining candidate decision making.  The model suggests that the median voter is the one who's preferences will be recognized and candidates will move to the middle to win this individual's vote.  In other words candidates race to the middle in an effort to win the most votes and the election since there are thought to be more voters at the median then on the fringe.

One week before the president's state of the union address he wrote in the Wall Street Journal Toward a 21st-Century Regulatory System. In which he outlined that the federal government needs to cut regulation and make smart decisions about the costs of regulation.  Economist Diana Furchtgott-Roth with Real Clear Markets recently wrote in her blog Obama Approaches Regulations Backwards:

"After two years of issuing regulations that have exacerbated recession-induced unemployment by discouraging job creation, President Obama has issued an executive order to evaluate whether rules and regulations have benefits that exceed costs. This backwards process-backwards because the benefit-cost calculus should have been applied first-does not inspire confidence."

However, I think she is missing a bigger point.  He is not approaching this backwards, but rather like any good politician should approach the situation.  With the midterm elections sending a signal that voters have moved to the right of President Obama he is doing what any good public choice scholar would expect he is trying to move toward the median voter.  With two years until the next presidential elections and candidates starting to announce exploratory committees to run it is not too soon for President Obama to be looking for ways to move to the middle and try and win the vote of the median voter and a second term in office.