For Kim and Reed, Obama's caving to Republican pressure on extending tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans was a defeat, even if it resulted in some good results for progressives. But if the Democrats are compromising their values now, how does this bode for upcoming legislative battles?

Will the tax deal result in Keynes-style stimulus? Washington Editor Christopher Hayes and Tyler Cowen, an economics professor at George Mason University, break down Keynesianism and what it says about Obama's tax cuts deal.

The Nation's Sasha Abramsky and Obama's Drug Czar, Gil Kerlikowske, speak at length about the administration's drug reform agenda.

On October 1, just one month before Californians voted on Proposition 19, Sasha Abramsky spoke by phone with Gil Kerlikowske, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, about prospects for drug reform in America.

The administration is promoting failed law enforcement programs as economic stimulus.

Obama got the Republicans to agree to an extension of unemployment insurance and a tax credit for low-income workers. As a progressive economist, I'm defending his deal.

For Berman, Obama's grassroots victory in 2008 built heavily on the fifty-state electoral strategy which Howard Dean pursued as DNC chairman. But in a political climate far different than the one that brought Obama to power, how can the Democrats harness this enthusiasm once again?

Obama's mistakes in office are nowhere near the whole story. The rest of us must shoulder our share of the blame, too.

According to Ari Berman, Obama has failed to connect with the grassroots organizers that helped get him into office, and the results of this misstep can be clearly seen in the outcomes of the 2010 midterms.

Persistent waffling on dates for American troop withdrawals from Afghanistan has eroded any remaining patience with the Obama White House among peace activists and voters.