So Obama can't be fairly criticized for hiding his devotion to this approach. But whatever else one wants to say about it, one cannot call it "new." This is what Democrats have been told for decades they must do and they've spent decades enthusiastically complying.
It's quite true, we're not getting a progressive President. We're not getting someone who values the rule of law above all else. The difference with Obama is that he is a master of oratory.. of the feel good speech.. of getting hundreds of thousands of people to see him speak.
That speaking style and endless references to "hope" and "change" naturally leads people to think something is going to change. It's not.
George Bush was able to implement a radical right wing agenda, and give the middle finger to anyone who tried to stop him. Now, everyone is telling Obama that he needs to be "centrist".. which is what all of them have been since FDR.
What we're going to get from Obama is competence... eloquence.. and he will maintain very high approval ratings because he's not going to do anything to change the culture of Washington.
You'll be able to measure Obama's performance by how the extreme right wing reacts. They likely won't be horribly upset.. which means.. not much is going to change for the better. We'll all just feel better about the same ol' thing. If Doug isn't going ape-shit, it's not good policy.
The real change is going to happen slowly, with one politician at a time. Kos has already laid it all out... primary the incumbent Democrats and get politicians that are real progressives. It will be done one national office at a time. It's going to take quite a while.
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