I never mistook Barack Obama for anything other than a center-right candidate, all the way back in the primaries. Over the course of my lifetime, "serious" public opinion has moved so far to the right that a center-right candidate is considered Too Liberal To Live. As I keep reminding people, Dwight Eisenhower, Barry Goldwater, and Richard Nixon would all now be considered too liberal to be nominated for even state-wide office, let alone national office, as a Republican. Ronald Reagan couldn't pass today's Republican Party loyalty test. Hell, in today's world, Eisenhower and Nixon would be considered too liberal to be taken seriously as Democrats.