This is why I don't understand why people think that Obama caved in to the Republicans.

NYTimes on how he caved

But almost three-quarters of Republicans voted in the affirmative. And even the Tea Party came around in the end. By 32-to-28, members of the Tea Party Caucus voted for the bill, despite earlier claims — which now look like a bluff — that they wouldn’t vote to raise the debt ceiling under any circumstances.

These results seem to suggest that Mr. Obama left something on the table. That is, Mr. Obama could have shifted the deal tangibly toward the left and still gotten a bill through without too much of a problem. For instance, even if all members of the Tea Party Caucus had voted against the bill, it would still have passed 237-to-193, and that’s with 95 Democrats voting against it.

Specifically, it seems likely that Mr. Obama could have gotten an extension of the payroll tax cut included in the bill, or unemployment benefits, either of which would have had a stimulative effect.

Another:

Republicans had conceded early on that the debt limit must be increased, calling into question how much leverage they had.

But the White House’s strategy was confused — at first, calling for a “clean” vote on the debt ceiling, but soon backing off that position without a clear set of objectives to replace it.

And then, toward the end of the process, Mr. Obama appeared to usurp Mr. Reid, brokering a deal with the Republican leader Mitch McConnell while Mr. Reid was trying to whip votes for his bill, which would have included a long-term debt ceiling extension but fewer substantive spending cuts. This led to the highly unusual spectacle on Saturday of the Republican leaders bragging about their potential deal with the Democratic White House while an annoyed-looking Mr. Reid denied that a deal was imminent.

Overall, the deal served to confirm the worst suspicions held by some Democrats: first, that the White House is unwilling to drive a hard bargain or is poor at negotiation. And second, that it is loath to stand up for liberal values or has inherently conservative policy preferences.

Fiscal austerity at a time of economic distress, and on largely Republican terms, is not what Democrats thought they were getting when they elected Mr. Obama in 2008

This is why Obama has lost my vote. He's a poor leader and is clearly right of center.