Look at how TL commenters jumped on Obama's "mental distress" statements to a Christian magazine.  Folks here immediately started putting new words in Obama's mouth, claimed he was anti-abortion, declared that he was against women's legal control over their own bodies, etc.  Yet his record on choice says otherwise.  Obama has voted pro-choice and is running on a strong pro-choice platform.

It's as if you guys are looking for ways to attack him.  He's got plenty of areas where he should be criticized, but to grasp at a phrase like "mental distress" and make all sorts of claims that Obama is giving the right wingers what they want or (is secretly one of them) us telling about the amount of Obama hatred here.  

Obama needs the votes of right wing and centrist Americans, and many of them are anti-abortion.  He's spoke to them in terms of their framework and philosophies.  If he gets their votes, that's a good thing.  Reaching out to the part of our electorate who usually vote against our issues doesn't mean he's giving them what they want.  It means he's savvy enough to speak to their hopes and fears.

I personally don't think it's the right time for him to push progressive issues.  Obama is still a blank slate to many right wingers and centrists.  He's been smeared by the right, yet he's created a huge surge of new and newly engaged Dem voters.  Republicans and Independents are taking another look at him because they want to see what we see in him.