Barack Obama's presidency, three years on – is it time to give up hope?

Given the focus on the republican primaries, is worth talking as well about the man they're fighting to go up against:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/19/barack-obama-president-hope-michelle

Perhaps the most wounding criticism of Obama is indeed :
"Which brings us closer to the core critique of Obama. That he avoids a fight, that he folds too early, that in his desire to unite and heal he too often surrenders his own position – to the point where no one is clear what his own position is"


It is true both that Obama could never have lived up to the many (divergent) hopes had of him when elected, but also that he has been less than stellar in his performance. Personally my interpretation is that while his heart is in the right place on most matters, he is ironically far from the driven left wing politican that the republicans paint him as, and is in fact someone who seeks compromise too much. When it comes to compromise it takes two to tango, and I think it is fair to say there has been often congressional obstructionism merely for the sake of it.

That this tarnishes his image is also ironic given that bipartisanship is something the electorate seems to want, and even the office of president itself was (in my understanding) originally meant to be for a sort of concilliatory guiding role, not an authoritarian all powerful one (I think Washington chose the term 'president' precisely for this reason, since the person was 'to preside' over government, and this would be in contrast to the title of 'prime minister' which they could have easily taken over from England, and which would imply much more superiority).

In the modern day however, and especially in a country with such deep cultural divisions, both sides want a president who is forceful in defending their values, and Obama is not very good at that it seems. Try to please everyone and you end up pleasing no one. But surely this is what the country needs at a divided time. To paraphrase the stones, you might not 't always get what you want, but sometimes you might get what you need.