1. Obama has not changed his position on FISA, separation of church and state, abortion, or Iraq. Period. End of story. Obama is the same progressive leader we fought so hard for in the primary.
2. That many are perceiving his recent comments and actions as a drift to the center is not helping him at all. He is seen as more centrist thanks to the spin, while McCain is seen as more conservative. But his poll numbers have not changed at all. There is absolutely no short-term gain in this repackaging.
3. In the long-term this promises to be very dangerous. Two major points here:
a. In the Lakoff critique, Obama must stand up and embody the progressivism as a vital energizing force in American politics the way that Reagan did for the Conservatives. If he does that, cognitive science shows that he activates the part of the vast majority of Americans that has a deep and emotional connection to progressive, democratic, liberal causes. the more he frames his message in conservative terms, the more he cedes the mind-space and heart-space to Republicans and conservatives.
b. The real danger is in the Sirota critique. Obama really has changed his position on NAFTA, and thus he runs the danger of alienating the Reagan Democrats and the targets of the Rovian culture wars. This is dangerous stuff and really just a bad move. Lower income, less-educated whites are a natural constituency for Obama if he would stand up for their issues he could, as Jim Webb said "bring african Americans and the Scots-irish to the table" and undo the mechanations of the aristocrats who have kept them apart since the founding of the country.
Obama has not changed his positions or run to the middle. What he has done is repackaged his message and abandonded his absolute stance on trade. This is the work of the Penns and McAulliffs who egged Gore, Kerry and Dukakis to defeat.
It was Obama's muscular progressivism that got him here, and it's our responsibility to make sure he doesn't abandon it.