"Damn you, Barack Obama! You’re not Clark Kent with a tan! You’re not gay! You’re not Bernie Sanders!! You’re not an idealist with 10 or 12 rigid, unyielding progressive positions that you’re looking to force on congress!! You’re not looking to dismantle the military to spend all the money on social programs!! I have just discovered this, and I am outraged!"
Anyone that thought Barack Obama was some sort of lefty idealist was either not paying attention, listening to Hillary Clinton’s rhetoric in the primaries, or listening to Fox News in the general. Those of us that knew Obama from before 2008 knew him as a pragmatic progressive, with the emphasis on pragmatic. And that’s why I supported him from the very beginning, when I sent $50 to his presidential exploratory committee.
This is EXACTLY what I expected, if not more-- competent people in government again, good relations with the rest of the world again, scraping together the most competent and experienced cabinet ever, putting together a massive stimulus bill in two weeks to address an economic crisis not seen in 70+ years, an honest budget, funding for the start of national health care, a seriously competent attempt at solving the most pressing problems facing the nation, and an immediate end to the most egregious violations of our nation’s moral character. DONE.
Almost anything else is a bonus. There was no other realistic candidate in the field that could have done so much so fast. None. There was no other candidate in the field that could have done half as much as Obama has done already.
Who could have done more at this point? Who would have been in better position to do more? Nobody.
Is he perfect? Nobody would be. Is he damn good? Yes. Would anybody else be better? No. The answers to all three of those questions are plainly obvious. So on that basis, it’s wise for us to let the guy work out the other problems without too much flak.