Whither Barack?

David Sirota wonders where Barack Obama has gone.

I share Sirota's frustration when looking at some of the votes Obama has cast, most glaringly on Democratic amendments to the bankruptcy bill. But I think Sirota's forgetting what Obama ran on, which was to be a centrist who would appeal to all of his Illinois constituents; it would be a mistake for Obama to be seen as voting in an exclusively partisan way. Nevertheless, it would be a shame if this great flame of progressiveness was a mirage.