Are liberals lazy, or abandoned?

I was reading an interesting article from the Pew Research Center that is worth looking at. Echoing my previous post about Liberal disillusionment, apparently,

"When asked in December, most Republicans (66%) think Obama is listening most to his party's liberals. But just 20% of liberal Democrats believe that. For the most part, they think the president is listening to moderates (54%) or that they are not sure who has his ear (25%)."

Emphasis mine again. Obama has allowed conservative talking heads to take control of this debate. Once again I ask, if you will be branded as a liberal either way, what's the harm in playing to your base, since that's the group that needs convincing at this point?