He started out as a full throated marxist/communist and never stopped at mere leftist. Read what he wrote about his professors at Occidental or his visit in Portola Valley (read “Meeting Young Obama, Feb 24, 2011 by John Drew on American Thinker) or his tutelage by communist Frank Davis Marshall when he was a sprout.
I don't doubt he probably believes a good deal of the class warfare/race nonsense of the leftist ideologues he knew and studied under. But like most people of his type, he likes power and the perks of filthy lucre.
Unlike Bill Clinton, Obama is too ignorant to understand that he can only go so far before the system is wrecked. But I still think he's evolved more into a parasite than the pure leftist he was in his earlier incarnation.