Who is the real Obama?

I have yet to have anyone, either a partisan Democrat or a previously undecided voter who was wooed into voting for Obama, precisely define how his policies will benefit the economy? The exit polls clearly show that the economy was the bellwether issue and the was the primary motivator for new voters. So, what is it, exactly, that makes them believe that an Obama White House and Pelosi/Reid near supermajorities in the Congress can heal our economy? Who is the real Obama - the one who ran and won or the one who has been in the senate for the past two years? Consider...

• Obama and his surrogates ran from the "liberal" label as fast as they could - and it is assumed that most of those who voted for him did not see him as one. But by just about any measure, he has been one of the most liberal members of the senate in his short time there, and his record in the Illinois legislature has been clearly far to the left.
• Obama won by running as a tax-cutter (for those earning below $250k, or $200k, or $150k...). His record in his limited time in public office has been that of a tax-and-spend liberal.
• Obama won by running as a bridge-builder, with exactly zero actual real-world examples of reaching across party lines. McCain has reached across the aisle to a nearly infinitely greater degree than he has, and yet the electorate was willing to believe Obama with no evidence rather than McCain with an actual record. Who is the real Obama?
• Obama won by running on a "get out of Iraq now" ultra-left liberal. McCain went against his party and staked his political fortune on the then unpopular troop surge, which worked to a degree beyond even his wildest expectations... McCain was right, Obama was wrong. What will Obama do now to appease the far left who he promised immediate withdrawal?

Who is the real Obama? It is a matter of gross professional malpractice that the media at large never even attempted to answer this question, and in fact suppressed others ability to ask it. But that is water under the bridge. We are bound to have our answer soon enough...