So the question, a year since we elected him, isn't how much Obama has accomplished. The question is why we've turned so small and mean that we only see half of it — the half we happen to agree with.
John Richardson of Esquire has an article out rebutting the conventional wisdom that a year after the election that filled us with so much hope, Obama hasn't really done anything. "Or, as Saturday Night Live put it, President Obama's two biggest accomplishments thus far are 'Jack and Squat.'"
Richardson goes on to list numerous accomplishments, none of which wouldn't be familiar to the typical Kos community member. Stuff like passing the stimulus, ending harsh interrogation tactics, making the torture memos public, fighting lawsuits against warrant-less wiretapping, increased drone attacks in Afghanistan, etc. But Richardson tweaks the list by putting the accomplishments into two groups--conservative accomplishments and liberal ones. This, he argues, turns out to explain where the conventional wisdom comes from (and why it's so wrong):
"Liberals are upset because Obama didn't shut down Guantánamo or stop the wiretapping program or...kill Don't Ask Don't Tell. Conservatives are pissed off because they hate health-care reform, family planning, ending any war at all, organic gardening at the White House, and government in general."
Bottom line, Obama is the kind of president who takes heat from all sides, which makes sense given his admiration for Lincoln and reputation for going out of his way to take ideas from all parts of the partisan spectrum. Richardson sums up the problem in the last paragraph:
"So the question, a year since we elected him, isn't how much Obama has accomplished. The question is why we've turned so small and mean that we only see half of it — the half we happen to agree with."
And that, folks, is how you end up with a conventional wisdom that is on its face somewhat ludicrous.