I feel like backing an all Vermont Howard and Bernie ticket in 2012.

Odds are that if you voted for Obama you weren't expecting Single Payer, as he didn't promise to deliver it.

You cite "another war," but that war isn't new. It was going on at the time Obama took office. So it's the same war we had.

The public option in a health care plan is simply not known at this time, and news reports today signal that there will be a public option, though weakened.

As for the bailouts, economists said they were necessary.

As for helping people losing their houses, aid has been provided: http://money.cnn.com/2009/03/04/news/economy/guidelines/index.htm

I don't expect many at TPM will criticize Obama. But if you think that these complaints aren't widespread among many of his supporters, think again. You can run the reasons why he can't do things. What happened to "yes we can?"

I feel just fine, thank you very much for asking.

It's totally amazing that anyone would expect Obama or anyone else to undo in a few months what it took 8 years of Republican rule to do......If you are not careful the smear and fear tactics of the right wingers and the Republican Party will gain traction and put the Republicans back in control......Where were you when Bush, Cheney, Rove and the rest of the Republican criminal corporate cabal were robbing the country blind...

I didn't expect any different from Obama, but that doesn't mean I'm happy about it.

You only need to examine the major contributors to political campaigns to know which way the wind blows.

One crucial thing really jumps out about the numbers. Total camapign donations from the 2004 cycle to the 2008 cycle doubled. This doubling also occurred from the 2000 campaign to the 2004 campaign. In each of these elections the party / individual who got the most donations also won the election. And the lions share of donations comes from organized groups of donors representing major business sectors.

All the numbers are here:

http://www.opensecrets.org/index.php

End of story.

1. It's the same war - didn't like it then, don't like it now. he didn't start it, made no promises on ending it anytime soon. Ask me again if we should get into a war with N. Korea.

2. He voted for bailouts before he got elected. If anyone voted for him despite his decision, why throw him under the bus now?

3. There is a program in place to help those losing their homes. You can complain that it's not helping everyone, but you can't say he did not try. And there is a program being discussed that would help homeowners stay in their homes by allowing them to rent it.

4. No public option? That has yet to be determined. The House liberals are fighting to keep a robust public option. Obama says he wants one. I am doing my best not to panic over every single development or set back in these negotiations.

5. He never promised single payer before the election and he didn't promise one after. He took it off the table, gave his explanation and I simply cannot understand why people claim they were deceived on this. Right or wrong, he never promised it.

6. Money still rules? No kidding. What exactly did people expect from one man in 6 months? Obama has repeatedly stated that power does not concede easily.

I am still very proud to call Obama my president. But he is still just a man. He will win some and lose some, but I trust that he is doing the best he can. I will not join the chorus of people saying he is not doing enough or those that call him a wimp. The primaries and the general election proved to me that Obama is a fighter, a better man than his critics and no one's door mat. He beat the establishment at their own game to win this election and for that he earns my utmost respect, always. I will do my part to help his agenda like calling, writing, faxing or whatever it takes. But don't expect me to throw him under the bus.

voting for him was not the problem. I think the Republican tide had to be stopped and I am glad he won. But I did give some money to his campaign...I will never do that again. I cannot believe my own stupidity.

Consider me a hard-core Obama supporter since I first became involved in signing an on-line petition to encourage him to enter the race in the fall of 2006 and I haven't looked back. I donated money monthly from the primary forward and worked 60-70 hour weeks as a volunteer.

(1) Another war? What are you babbling about here? We were in two wars under Bush and only one had validity. That one--with Afghanistan--was short-changed and still represented a danger. The cost can be laid at the feet of the GOP leaders who were stupid about the whole thing--as well as a few Senatorial Democrats who voted for the Iraq mess. We have to back out carefully and not a wholesale scramble out as you apparently support. Obama certainly never supported such nonsense.

Bailouts for bankers and stockbrokers? Uh-huh. You apparently don't have money or anything to lose or you would understand just how tangled up our retirement money and savings are. Since you apparently have a credit card, then perhaps you need to revisit Budgeting 101 which dicates that you only spend every month what you can afford and NOT CHARGE IT. Once you start charging stuff on credit, then you are under the control of the money-lenders. This isn't a new thing.

No help for people losing their houses? Again, there are programs in place. And there is little protection for folks who don't understand Budgeting 101. See above.

No public option? Uh-huh. Since the negotiations continue, you seem to be using your own crystal ball to look into the future. Go to Congress if the current state of their negotiations are upsetting to you.

No single payer? Obama never promised this.

I'm fine with my vote and my support of Obama. The years from Reagan forward until January 20, 2009 have been a series of disappointments. But the American public has been changing and now we are facing a new dirction. But it takes a lot to turn things--and I speak as someone who worked very hard to turn us away from Vietnam...and that took fires and bloodshed and years.

We're going in the right direction and it will not satisfy those of you who have sat down and written out the "best" plan for some aspect of our lives. In that best plan are the roots of tyranny since only one person came up with it and only one person gets to enforce it. I prefer our system. And I take responsibility for my piece of coming up with the plan. What about you?

(1) Not sure what I think about Afghanistan. Certainly skeptical of Obama policy, but it's what he said he'd do. Hopefully he'll adjust appropriately, if not, bad.
(2) Again, no surprise, he supported during campaign. Again, we'll see about ultimate net effects.
(3) Don't know enough to say. People losing their houses are not necessarily the most needy people in the country, who I think of first, anyway. And again, not aware of any particular conflict with what he said in the campaign.
(4) This is false. Neither the policy nor Obama's ultimate position has been determined yet.
(5) I support single-payer, but I hope I don't need to tell you that Obama was as clear as mud that he wasn't going to pursue it.
(6) They're obviously powerful, but the outcome on health care is still up in the air (see (4)).

So I'm reasonably positive on Obama so far, while quite prepared that he will turn out not to be what I wanted and/or simply not successful, partly because he screwed up, partly because the job of making progressive reforms in the U.S. is really hard. As for my vote, I'm not aware that any of the alternatives would have been better.

If we don't get a good health care bill (which I define as covering most people adequately, don't much care how for now -- a whole other discussion), I would for the first time in my life seriously advocate for a progressive "third" party. No such party could succeed without the support of a large number of current high level Democratic elected officials, and I hope Obama would join it.

You forgot to mention Obama and Holder becoming willing accomplises in the cover up of war crimes during the Bush years and their illegal refusal obey the law and investigate all credible reports of such crimes.

And you forgot to mention the wholesale adoption of all the illegal and unconcstitutional police state tactics of the Bush years and then some!

I think it is all a crying shame frankly. Yes, Obama is better than Bush, but in any number of critically important areas he isn't much better and in some cases his posititions are even worse! I am disappointed because though I never trusted Obama, I did think he had some integrity despite being tainted with the stink of Washington and the Potomoc Fever that has driven his political career. But I was wrong. Obama doesn't have much integrity at all as he has so amply demonstrated in his weak performance on health care and his complete betrayal of those who supported him when it comes to the war crimes and other other criminal conduct of the Bush regime.

I feel that he is living down to my expectations, actually.