Thing is about Ollie? I like him. But he is probably the least self-aware superhero there is. I think it's what his preachy bluster is really all about: trying to hide awareness of his own flaws, not so much from others but from himself. It's like what Henry Miller once said about people obsessed with the good of the world: they're running from something they can't deal with in themselves.
Now, I LIKE that Ollie's an outspoken liberal, though I'm a bit skeptical of it coming from a rich boy like himself(even without his money he's a rich boy, one who doesn't realize he's slumming). But just the same, I think it's where a lot of it comes from. On the positive side, it also makes him guilty enough to do good, so there's that.