Has President Obama lived up to your expectations so far?

He loves his family and they are super cute together, so yes. He has loved up to my expectations.

Never has , never will.

Look…politicians say what they need to say to get elected.

By that standard, President Obama has at least tried to fulfill some of his campaign promises.

And…

…he’s managed to avoid getting himself assassinated, which is a huge accomplishment in my book.

He set the bar so high for himself during the campaign that I never figured he’d be able to do everything. Most presidents have disappointed the American people in some big way. I think he is slowly making things better but faces a lot of huge problems because of the mess he inherited from George W. Bush. I’m proud of him.

@rangerr: I love sarcastic replies. I’m trying to wait until my probation period is over so I can join in the fun.

I thought you just called me a sarcastic reptile.

I wouldn’t dare!

That stupid bastard is single-handedly responsible for the complete misery in every possible category, that my family has experienced to date. We’re totally happy, if we could just be left alone. But no, that is not to be. We have lost everything we’ve worked for as a family the past 12 years. We’ve worked on THIS problem since 2005, but there is so much beaurocratic bullshit that we’ve been impeded every step of the way.

He made ONE MAJOR CAMPAIGN PROMISE that secured his election. He told the Hispanics of this nation that, his first year in office, he would make it legal so that they would not have their families destroyed. As a result, the Hispanic vote made up about 68%+/- (depending on which sites you visit. I haven’t seen the same figures on two or more website anywhere, so 68% is the average of all the figures I found) of the votes that got his ass in office.

Suddenly, this country’s healthcare, which has been in the shitter for DECADES, has to take front and center RIGHT NOW. IMMEDIATELY. Why now?! Why this very minute? Then they won’t even be allowing preventative screenings for cancers and other diseases on top of that. Are they TRYING to kill us? Hold that though, boys and girls.

Yes, I had none and have received none.

Man… My answer makes no sense now..

hmm yea, you cant collect a peace prize after sending people off to fight. some what disappointed.

I expected a dangerous, out of control, liberal spend-thrift, rock star of a president…..and He (caps intended) hasn’t let me down!

Yes.

What did I expect? Just another authoritarian, partisan politician.

What did I get? Just another authoritarian, partisan politician.

As I’ve said many times before, anyone who puts any faith in just about any politician, be they democrat or republican, liberal or conservative, is ignoring the fact that none of them really give a damn about any of us proles.

*puts on flame suit

That’s what I’ve been saying for years, but nobody seems to give care. My basic question being, when is the last time our government worked the will of the people?
I mean, damn…...isn’t that their JOB?

@Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard I think that will always be a distance between power and people. But the chances are it’s shorter in a democracy. I recognize that there is political aristocracy in many of the western democracies, and that there will always be an elite. But in the words of Churcill, democracy is not a good system, but the best in a bad bunch.

I think that true democracy is just as an unrealized concept as communism, but I think that the worst thing one can do, is not voting. Then you yourself create/increase that distance. The best thing is to involve yourself in the local community. That is an important part of democracy.

Life could be worse. It is in many countries. But it doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement.

!f democracy isn’t bad enough, when at the voting booth we are FORCED to choose between the lesser of two evils. And in the end it doesn’t matter anyway, because the bastards will get in there and do an about face every single time. In the case of presidents, we have to wait FOUR YEARS before we get another chance to oust him. How much damage can be done in four years? Or more to the point, look how much damage can be done in just ONE.

Yes. He’s live up to every expectation I had.

I expected no real change, despite his campaign slogan. I’ve seen no real change.

I expected lots more spending. I’ve yet to hear where all the money to support this health care bill is coming from. I’ve seen billions go to automakers and irresponsible banks, despite his “outrage” over executive bonuses.

It’s all a sham. Smoke and mirrors. He wanted to make history, and he has. He’ll forever be known, not for what he did, but for being the first black president.

But he could still surprise me. I expect massive increases in taxes. Maybe he’ll finally fail to live up to my expectations. I can only hope.

To address the OP’s points:

1. He is in the process of closing Gitmo. It’s not something you can do overnight.

2. There’s a reduction occurring in Iraq.

3. He didn’t promise (iirc) to draw down Afghanistan, he promised to re-focus on it.

4. I think without TARP and the stimulus, our financial situation would be more like the Great Depression, which is what they were trying to prevent. We don’t have bread lines. I’ll take recession over depression any day.

5. The people with the most use for public-supported health care are the people without jobs, since many jobs now offer health care benefits. It’s the people who can’t get insurance through their jobs that should find this relevant.

If you want my impression of Obama-so-far, you can check out this question and my answer. Questions like this pop up with a regularity here.

Not all of them, but many. I mean that in a good way.

Yes. He has done, pretty much, exactly what I expected he would.

I’m incredibly disappointed thus far. We (of course I mean we who voted for him. If you didn’t, no biggie) voted for change and we got a little nudge. I was enthusiastic at the beginning but have quickly lost much of it up to this point.

I voted for Obama and would today. He has kept his word by looking out for my familia (family). No other president gave a damn. I feel safe in his hands.

Yes but then my expectations of politicians is that they at least try to make things better. So is he trying? I think so. So he’s met my expectations so far. :)

Yes. His form of Marxism is precisely what I expected. He is quickly raping the US Treasury while fighting foreign wars to protect Israel.

Overall, I’m happy with his performance, but disappointed that both Republicans and Democrats refuse to work together in everybody’s best interests. The change that Obama promised might be a pipe dream, but if it is, it isn’t due to any fault of Obama. The Senate and Congress will have to shoulder the blame for that. They seem more interested in furthering their less than visionary ways and promoting partisan politics while keeping their pockets full of taxpayer cash rather than just knuckling under and doing what needs to be done. The fringe element and overly-conservative fear-mongers, and by that I mean anyone who believes that all of our problems began with Obama’s election and that miracles should have already been performed despite the Senate and Congress’ near-complete unwillingness to adapt to the times, are responsible for postponing any real positive change. Anyone who sits at their computer complaining instead of getting involved enough to force politicians to change might as well be pissing into the fan. Change won’t happen until we get off our collective asses and force their hand.

Well, I really didn’t expect much to begin with, so…as predicted…nothing has been accomplished.

Yeah, but two wars and the biggest financial crisis since the Depression can’t give him much room to swing a cat. He is kind of fighting uphill with the health care reform as well. But the climate conference seems pretty much depend on the US and China.

I never thought Obama was a messiah who would change everything overnight. He ran his campaign as a pragmatic centrist realist who’s willing to compromise with bitter opposition (be it Republicans or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad).

And so far, that’s exactly what we’ve got. The only thing I’m really disappointed about is his lack of movement on DADT, but I’m willing to give him some more time on that.

He’s done as well as I expected him to do, though not as well as I had hoped. I have been disappointed with his inability to overcome the disunity in his own party. I hope he can do better over the next couple of years, but the window of opportunity is closing fast on his legislative agenda. The Democrats are going to lost a lot of seats next year; they probably won’t lose either chamber, but the majorities they have now are going to be cut way down. It will be harder for Obama to push anything through Congress after that, particularly if the Republicans continue their obstructionism.

I think the idea that we had 60 Democrats has been one grand illusion, because 4–5 of those people are essentially Republicans except when their self-interest and lust for power conflicts wtih Republican principles.

If we can maintain 50+ actual, progressive Dems in the Senate and a majority in the House, I don’t think the dynamic will change much. Perhaps not having the 60 threshold in realistic sight will mean less kissing Lieberman’s and Nelson’s asses… which I think is infuriating but unfortunately necessary at this point.

he’s only a president. what can we really expect of just one figurehead of a person. It’s congress is where the action is

@woodcutter And if “pro” is for, and “con” is against; wouldn’t the hindrance of progress be congress?

@Hypocrisy_Central you might be on to something there but I don’t think the con in congress means the same thing. Maybe “con” as in confidence man or more abbreviated, con men although that may be being too rough on the con-men.

Yes, he has lived up to my expectations. I knew that Obama is fairly conservative and that, apart from undoing some, but not all, of the most egregious acts of Bush, he would basically support the status quo. Obama has yet to renounce torture and he supported the changes to FISA. He has yet to renounce Bush’s attempts to extend the power of the executive.

There have been some long term trends that need to be addressed, like the widening gap between the rich and everyone else, which I do not see Obama touching upon. His health care plan has no provisions for limiting premiums, so the effect of not turning people down for prior conditions will have the effect of raising premiums. I think that e some radical changes are required, which can only be initiated by someone more visionary than Obama.