In an astounding interview with the Des Moines Register this week, President Obama suggested that if re-elected, he will move sharply to the center in order to build the bipartisan consensus that he failed to achieve during almost four years in the White House.

Team Obama at first insisted that the interview remain off-the-record. But after a Register editor asked in a blog post why the president's pitch for a Register endorsement should not be public, the White House agreed to put it on the record. Whether on the record or...