Obama presented himself as much further left in his first run. He promised universal healthcare, the pivoted to mandatory insurance after winning and Lieberman barely let that pass. And the Dems did much worse in all the subsequnt elections. Centrism fails.

Hillary was the Centrist candidate in the primary where Obama got nominated. His left position was extremely popular.

He was NOT "left" beyond Healthcare. He did nothing to hold banks accountable for crazy lending that had created the Great Recession. John Edwards had a far more progressive platform!

John Edwards quit the race and endorsed Obama after a few states had voted. Obama's position on the bank bailouts wasn't clear during the election, and yes that cost the Dems, just like every other centrist thing they do.

Yep, I remember it well. I was heavily involved in the Edwards campaign in Iowa. Mainly because despite of Obama's emotional appeal, I didn't think he was the right one. Abd Edwards couldn't capture his 2004 momentum (and we used to care about a candidate's infidelity).