Centrism as the meeting of liberalism with reality and its separation from purity

Timothy Egan on liberalism, purists, and centrism:

Reality is always a problem for purists. On the liberal side, many fail to comprehend that they are a distinct minority, stuck for years at around 19 percent of the public. When a liberal like Obama gets elected, he has to govern as a centrist for the simple reason that four-fifths of the country does not share his basic political outlook.

I would love to agree with Egan, but I cannot. Liberalism in America is not longer a political philosophy, but rather simply a societal ideology in the sense that liberals do not really ask their politicians when they get to the top of the mountain to enact a political philosophy, but to remain like them. by talking their language, and keeping the same enemies. My point is that Obama was never a liberal, but a centrist who understood that liberalism is essentially about identity, which meant for hm focusing on being the kind of person liberals would had trouble believing was not one of them (smart, black, intellectual, open to the world, eloquent, charming). In short, liberalism  is no longer about political actions, but about being the right kind of American and having a certain vision of the American past, present, and future. The problem with liberals is that they are fell in lust with power and with image, that they no longer know how to win political disputes and to be good at political bargaining. I think that Kucinich flipped on healthcare because to him, Barack Obama stylistically, intellectually, and visually epitomized liberalism and therefore he is willing to give more than the benefit of the doubt and to assume that he may be taking detours, but he will lead  America to the liberal promised land.  I suspect that he would have flipped the bird to Hillary Clinton had she been the one asking for his vote because she epitomized the evil compromises of centrism.