The problem with the right is that they think if they are more extremist they will get more of the vote. This actually worked for them for a while. They had to create the sense that the "mainstream media" was left oriented so that a far right agenda propagated by Fox News would be considered centrist. This worked for them in the 2004 election with Bush. People have gotten smarter and the in particular the left have found their voice on the internet but it has left the country polarized.
All of the republican candidates for president are too extreme to get elected. Americans have become disillusioned with the TEA Party. Why should they care if a bunch of upper middle class Americans think their taxes are too high? Their agenda primarily only benefits the super wealthy. If the right were really smart they would move more to the center and find a centrist candidate.
Obama has been a great president because he stuck to his primary goals but has remained centrist on most other fronts. To me the most important achievements of Barack Obama have been to end military involvement in Iraq, capture or kill Osama bin Laden by increasing our military efforts in Afghanistan, and reform healthcare. Not only that but he inherited an economy that was headed for disaster and salvaged it (as well as possible), pressured BP to fix the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, and reformed the credit industry.
