I thoroughly enjoy watching keyboard warriors talk about how weak Obama is on this, and how terrible he is at that, when the biggest decision these folks have to make is "do you want fries with that?" You think you've got the resolve, you think you're a better decision-maker than he is, and you think you know so much more than he does because you read Krugman or Greenwald or that totally underrated super-hipster political website that hasn't hit the mainstream yet. Guess what? There's a reason why he's president and you're not. If you think you've got what it takes to do a better job, then run for President! I'd love to see how you do to fix the entire free world's every little problem in three years.
I think I've figured out what the anti-Obama crowd wants. You want a George Bush. Not the "Obama = Bush" bullshit, but a ruthless bloodthirsty president who will kill and character-assassinate his way to fulfill political goals. You want a liberal president who uses the same tactics to get what he wants that you complained about for eight years when the other guy did it.
You want Obama to raise taxes on the rich. You want him to focus on jobs. You want him to pass a robust stimulus plan. I would love that too. Okay, we all want it, but how does he do that in the House? He can talk a good game and say "tax increases!" three times and click his heels together, but it doesn't amount to diddlysquat unless 218 teadrones in the House of Representatives vote for it. President Obama can talk until his mouth goes dry, but it won't do a lick of difference unless you work to elect over 218 Democratic votes in the House.
If you need to hear him talk angrily to a wall, that's fine. Whatever makes you feel better. But the reality is that the Republicans in Congress want him to lose. They're not going to help him at all no matter how sternly he words a speech.
If you want to make a change, go fix the damn House. Obama can't do it all on his own (in case you've forgotten).
Oh, and by the way, Barack Obama is the Commander in Chief. Not the Capitulater/Whiner/Weakling/Caver-in-Chief. I know a lot of the never-happy-with-the-president stems from the need to hate authority or make him seem like a lesser being, but Barack Obama is the President -- regardless of what you think of his policies, afford him the respect he deserves.
3:19 PM PT: A commenter below noted that most hyper-partisans can't admit when they're wrong, or apologize when they did something wrong. I'm not going to let that happen with me. The "do you want fries with that" comment was over the line, and I apologize to everyone who's read this. I debated taking it out, but made the wrong decision not to get rid of it. I should have, since a few have taken great offense to it and it's taken away from other points of the diary. Again...sorry for that line. I stand by the rest of the diary without sway.