After Democratic victories, liberals become the Republicans' best friends [View All]

It happened with Jimmy Carter in 1980, Al Gore in 2000, and seems to be happening with Barack Obama in 2012:

1 Liberals are not satisfied with them.

2 Liberals don't work for them or contribute to them, or perhaps don't even vote for them.


No. 1 is ok. But no. 2 is the problem. No. 2 seems to be especially strong after Democratic victories (in 1976, 1992 & 1994, and 2008).


Why no. 2 is a problem:

a) It makes it easier for the Republicans to win, and they ARE 1000 times worse.

b) The main effect of no. 2 is to make Democrats less, not more, liberal: The main reason Carter, Gore and Obama were/are not more liberal in office, is not that they didn't/don't want to be more liberal, but that they were/are not strong enough (because the Congress and/or the voters are too conservative). Carter and Gore have later become liberal heroes, and as far as I remember, Obama was one of the most liberal Senators. So no. 2, which makes them weaker, makes it more difficult for them to be liberal. (The same applies for the Republicans - when they became stronger, under Bush, they dared to become more conservative.)