He's trying too hard to be bipartisan, and that is the problem - he's the guy that REALLY wants to get elected to student government, and so he makes frienRAB with the goths, the jocks, the cheerleaders, the preps, the skateboarders, and everyone else so that he can be popular too.
That makes him a largely ineffectual leader, though - he has lost the respect of his own party, and he's failed to do anything that would have gained him respect from the Republicans. Rather than choosing issues to concede on while maintaining his position on others, he'll concede on anything if it means more people like him. Which, as it turns out, simply makes it more likely that everyone will oppose him to get concessions on any minor issue.
He got dealt a shitty hand, but rather than bluff or fold, he decided to just stare at it until everyone else at the table knew he didn't know what to do.