Politics is the art of the possible.
Obama won with 53% of the vote.
Obama doesn't have FDR majorities.
Obama has a Senate with idiotic rules and several almost worthless conservative "Democrats."
Obama is facing vitriol from the right that probably hasn't been seen since Lincoln (and yes, partly because he's black).
Obama has a national media that believes presenting lies and facts on equal footing is "balance."
Imagine, if you will, if he had pushed on everything we wanted from Day One.
Everything -- introducing legislation for single payer, introducing the repeal of DADT and DOMA, closing Guantanamo and sending the detainees back home, introducing meaningful immigration reform legislation, withdrawing immediately from Afghanistan and Iraq, introducing legislation to nationalize/break apart the banks.
Where would we be now? Not one piece of that legislation would have been passed. The meme that Obama was a socialist Muslim intent on tearing down America while helping out his lazy, brown-skinned buddies would be 10 times louder than it is now. Jimmy Carter would look effective in comparison.
We have a populace that has been let down by our education system, lied to by the corporatists and their controlled media (and convinced by the same that non-white people are a threat to their culture and livelihoods), and still enthralled by simplistic answers to complex questions. If you shove the progressive agenda down their throats you will see major blowback and more Scott Browns in November 2010, and the substantial likelihood of a reactionary Republican presidential victory in November 2012.
The readership of Daily Kos is a tiny percentage of the electorate. In the great scheme of things, we don't matter much. Concrete results for the vast middle are the real determinant of our short term political direction. What matters for the majority is feeling secure in their jobs, secure in the their health care, secure in the their daily lives from horrors like 9/11.
That's Obama's audience. Not us, not yet. It is time that we recognize this. Yes, Guantanamo is an abomination, but for the vast middle it doesn't really matter much right now. The same for GLBT issues, the same for single payer health care, the same for Afghanistan. First and foremost, Obama has to reassure these people that he's on their side. Otherwise they'll vote for the idiotic Republican with his non-sensical but reassuringly simplistic "solutions."
Yes, I'm a fanboi. I think given the constraints, Obama's done a hell of a job to stay the most popular politician in the country. I think he deserves our patience and continued support. Of course we should push him in the right direction, but I believe - strongly - that he is on our side on every one of those critical issues, and that in the long run (especially in a second term) he will put all of his talents and energy behind doing as much good as he can.
He is turning the clumsy ship of the American state carefully and deliberately. Sharp changes in direction that the public isn't ready for will backfire. It's a difficult job, and he's made mistakes, but do you honestly think someone else could be doing it better? Dennis Kucinich? Hillary Clinton? Ralph Nader? Get real.
I agree with blackwaterdog, it's self-destructive to stay home in a fit of pique. Push Democrats in the right direction, sure, but I think our efforts should be directed not at the politicians, but their constituents. Fight the ignorance and confusion, not each other.