In the four years since Barack Obama became the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee in 2008, progressives have let all control of their ideology be smacked away from them.

Progressives and Democrats cowered as they let the Tea Party infect whatever comforting decency the Republican seniority had within it. Unconditional opposition to Obama was a free lunch – they could move as far right as necessary to oppose anything, even conservative policies, and still not be responsible for offering any ideas of their own.

Republicans trampled Democrats in the public discourse and in the midterm elections. Democrats weren’t ready for this; their rhetoric is always inferior. Instead of standing their ground and creating a stronger coalition with their popular, vibrant and likable president, they retreated to center in typical Democratic fashion and got pummeled.

Now we have a president whose most memorable foreign policy decisions include committing 30,000 more troops to an unwanted war and sending a military task force into a nation with which we are not fighting, without its permission, and committing an assassination without trial on its soil. A president whose most critical legislative accomplishment is a total balk on the progressive goal of universal health care. A president who is picking the wrong battles and dragging his base along as he strays further and further from the platform that got him elected.

Have we forgotten 2008? Are you not bothered by how far you must have strayed from your comfort zone in order to defend the actions of elected Democrats? When we react to a speech like the 2012 State of the Union, centrist compromises throughout as if it were an appeal to the base, something is seriously wrong.

In the past three years, the Tea Party has always had something that progressives haven’t: they opened their damn mouths. They got mad. They went outside and got their voices in the news. And they followed through by going to the polls and actually voting.

With Obama in the White House and intransigence in the Congress, progressives just seem so complacent. Sure, they are periodically irritated by the actions of Republican politicians or conservative commentators, but they are lacking in spirit. And whenever I see any kind of explicit ideological affirmation, it is usually in lock-step with a president who has been pulling the leash tighter and tighter. It’s embarrassing.

I identified in conservatives long ago the belief of conservatism-as-terminus, that once you decide you’re conservative, all of the heavy lifting has already been done for you. The answer is “cut spending,” and it doesn’t matter that deficit spending drastically eased the 2008-09 recession, nor does it matter what is cut (as long as it’s not military aggression) because the way society disadvantages certain groups is totally its own fault. There’s no culpability for the ensuing hardship. People can become poorer, lose their houses, be completely divested of their reproductive rights, get sick without insurance or face social discrimination that goes unacknowledged by the political ruling crass, but in the end, all of the hands get wiped clean so we can finally worry about Wal-Mart wishing customers a Happy Holiday instead of a Merry Christmas.

But more and more, I see this laziness among supporters of the Democratic Party. Supporting Barack Obama for reelection does not mean all problems are solved. It actually creates a slew of newer, stickier problems.

I have been hard on the Republican Party this semester, but anybody who assumes my disgust with them is a tacit excusal of the Democratic identity crisis is categorically wrong. My deep hope is that the campaign season brings out a tougher, more ideologically defined and progressive Obama than his presidency has allowed.