I would need to see Obama actively pursue, as a clear first choice, policies that 1) I personally oppose, 2) are worse than the status quo, and 3) to the right of the median vote in Congress*.
Notice how none of that involves public rhetoric.
I think you're absolutely right about people wanting someone to "go to bat" for them. I think the angry liberals of the internet want a lot more visible passion from him. It's why Howard Dean, a guy with an apparently centrist record by anyone's reckoning, became an idol to the liberal wing of the party: he was the avatar for our anger at Bush, and at the Democrats who had enabled him post-9/11.
Liberals want a president who is one of them, who will say what they feel and articulate what they believe without embarrassment or qualification. Activist liberals are a somewhat marginalized group in a lot of the institutions of mainstream US politics, so they want some representation and some respect. Which is completely, absolutely, totally understandable.
But at a certain point, you're putting the cart before the horse.
Government policy affects people directly. That's the important thing. It is infinitely more important than the emotional rush that Kos posters would get from some symbolic confrontation or public garment-rending. Yeah, it would be real nice to tell Joe Lieberman to fuck off. But if eating his shit means letting gay Americans come out of the closet and keep their jobs in the military? Who doesn't take that deal?
I'm kinda torn, because I completely empathize with all the disappointment and anger on the left and support the right to vent. On the other, there seem to be more and more people willing to pull a JayDubya and maintain an absolutist position because it lets them maintain an unearned sense of superiority without ever having to risk or accomplish anything. Cause really, fuck 'em.
PS If he were a brash liberal with 9% unemployment, he'd also be the brash liberal with a 40% approval rating.
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*ie Afghanistan, and maybe Libya. Someone explain to me again why so many liberals loved Sam Powers?