The different factions claiming that President Obama has sold out the left and is a corporate shill, or that he never really was a liberal are missing the point. Firstly, “Liberal”, “Progressive”, “The Left” and “The Democratic Party” are all different things to different people. To the 30% of the country or so that's still looking for the President's birth certificate, all these words are interchangeable and adjectives for “Socialist”, “Communist”, “Fascist” or whatever.
One of the reasons why I'm NOT a conservative is that their mentality always tends toward these simple, easy-to-digest generalizations and that is not an effective way to view the world. This is how we get the scorched earth, us vs them politics and policy that has been shown time and time again to fail. Really, how many times do we need to try out “Trickle Down Economics” to realize that you can't “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” if you have no boots, or that a leaky little boat in a state of disrepair will NOT rise in the tide along with the yachts in the harbor?
I consider myself a liberal precisely because this mindset unshackles curiosity, allowing me to try new things and see what works regardless of prejudice, culture or dogma. I find this a much more effective and fair way of looking at the world. I am a Progressive because the majority of human history is filled with the suffering and destruction brought about by the effort to consolidate power towards ever smaller numbers of people. Only in the past few centuries has this been reversed somewhat, and I will fight tooth and nail to prevent all those tragedies from happening again.
These are the reasons why I hold the political beliefs that I do and why I am also a Democrat. Each and every person should look into why they hold the views they do and come up with their own justifications; it's refreshing and it helps put things in perspective. I may disagree with the way bills are handled in Congress or how the narrative is playing in the media, but when second place in an election doesn't even have a consolation prize (except if your name is George W. Bush), liberals & progressives have to realize that their words can be excruciatingly counterproductive. Constructive criticism is great and as I mentioned above, the liberal mindset allows us to have much more fruitful and effective conversations than the other side. However, we are just being inflammatory Glenn Becks if we resort to hyperbole or unknowing dupes if our words can be used, even out of context, to fuel the right-wing rage machine.
I support President Obama precisely because he has shown that, minus the shortcomings in messaging, he is looking to the most effective way to get an agenda advanced that embraces compassion for all people and is aware of the forces of history at play. Yes, he was duped into pursuing bipartisanship on healthcare for too long, but the Public Option died because the votes simply weren't there, not because of messaging. Tax cuts for the middle class didn't have the votes either, since the idea of the all-night-and-then-some filibuster is more a product of classic movies than the actual rules of the Senate. Those rules and the Machiavellians that abuse them are what's wrong with the system, not the messaging. Threatening to stay home on election day, or doing anything that hinders democrats and helps republicans makes enacting even the weak compromises that can be improved upon later that much harder.
The President is learning how to deal with the opposition and be a more effective national leader. If you believe that a liberal mindset and progressive inclinations are the best way to solve problems and run our society, definitely tell the President and his party how you think they can be more effective. Fanning the flames of a primary challenge in 2012 or trying to fracture the Left's coalition only makes it that much more likely that the ideals you hold dear will be diminished or destroyed completely by those who are ideologically opposed to you. If you don't trust me, try asking all those people in Florida that voted for Nader in 2000.