After much analysis, I think many of the netroot supporters are going to be in for a lot of handwringing about the Pragmatic (non-idealistic) nature of the Obama presidency.
One case in point is when he was Pres. of the Harvard Law Review - he allowed a savage attack on Aff. Action to be printed and had more federalists/conservative appointements than progressive ones.
Here are some articles....
Obama Lays Groundwork for Pragmatist Revolution
He has a mandate to lead from the left, if he chooses, but that poses risks to his party’s steep gains, and he has consistently expressed his belief in the virtues of governing from the center. His party expanded its majorities in both houses of Congress and the Republican opposition lost overall registrations during the last 4 years. The mandate is comprehensive and he has already signaled his intent to try to curb the ambitions of the most impassioned liberals in Congress to effect ideologically-based change, favoring a deliberate, pragmatist approach, with progressive aims guiding that approach.
Capital Commerce has an angle
Or look at Obama's tax plan. In addition to new middle-class tax credits, it has a technocratic reform proposal that would make filing many tax returns easier by letting the Internal Revenue Service fill them out in advance. And the economist who devised the plan, the University of Chicago's Austan Goolsbee, is no class warrior on taxes or China basher on trade. Don't forget, too, that in his book The Audacity of Hope, Obama himself found a few kind words for President Reagan's 1981 tax cuts, which slashed the top marginal rate to 50 percent from 70 percent, saying that the old sky-high rate did "distort investment decisions." Sounds pretty pragmatic.
He shares alot of G. HW Bush's foreign policy and praises him
Obama's pragmatic world view
"They didn't overreach," Obama said. "They understood that you couldn't spook the Russians or be unnecessarily provocative ... You had to coax them into permitting more freedom and not acting rashly. They understood the absolute priority of securing those nuclear weapons."
So anyone hoping for a wildly liberal run away....you're arent gonna get it