JAMES TARANTO: Progressives Are Betraying Obama, Not The Other Way Around. “Left-wing progressives have abundant reason to be unhappy with the Obama presidency. If it continues on its current trajectory, it could be the greatest setback to progressive ideology since the Vietnam War. Uygur is also correct in reckoning the president an atrocious negotiator as we argued last week. But the notion that Obama is not a progressive or has not been ‘fighting for progressive principles’–a very different activity from negotiating, we should note–is bunk. . . . In short, Obama is a fighter for the progressive cause. Progressives are upset with him because he is a loser. . . . Progs loved Bill Clinton because he was a winner. They loathe Barack Obama because he is a loser. But Obama is a loser in large part because he is unwilling to do what Clinton did to make himself a winner: cast aside progressive ideology when it is expedient to do so. Obama isn’t betraying the left, the left is betraying Obama–and they are doing so precisely because he has done what they say they want him to do.”