Barack Obama

For example you start with a position that you would be happy to have a candidate who opposed the Iraq War.

and after each step the bar rises:

No longer enough candidate must be for an end of the war.

After that is achieved then for a date certain withdrawal date.

After that is achieved then it is for an immediate withdrawal.

After that is achieved then it is for a date certain withdrawal from Afghanistan.

After that is achieved then it is for an immediate withdrawal from Afghanistan.

After there are no more troops in either Iraq or Afghanistan then looking back it is perceived as being easy to do and no big thing and the President accomplished very little really.

Of course a decade from now when we are under a Republican President then these will be remembered as the "good old days" when progressives worked together to end the wars.

And the same goes for Health care and so on.