I am so mad that we went into 2009 with SO MUCH momentum behind us and then wasted it!

[KansasVoter]

I remember, after he won the 2004 election, when George W said "I earned some political capital, and now I plan on spending it"!

I thought after our big win, that Obama would get in there and kick some ass.

I am sure I will be called naive and gullible, and it may be true, but I thought he would call Ben Nelson and Blanch Lincoln into the White House and tell them they WILL be on board on Health Care or NEVER win another democratic election again. I thought Obama would sit down and tell the pentagon that we WILL be out of Iraq by the end of 2010, and that does not mean 50,000 troops still there.

How did all of us here on the DU know that reaching out to the GOP would not work but the administration did not know it? What indication did Obama get that they had somehow changed?

I do not know Washington, so I really know I am just being unrealistic. But I would be surprised if anyone on the DU really expected us to be right where we are now on election day in 2008. If you did, then you had much lower expectations than I did.

Believe me, Obama is 1000 times better than any GOP president would be. And I will vote for him in 2012. But my hope for massive change has been greatly diminished. I expected a TOTALLY different and better Washington after Obama won. Not just a little better one.

[sinkingfeeling]

1. I think we're about where I thought we'd be with the exception of the continuing bad economy. I

thought we'd have turned the corner by now, as was indicated in the first part of the year.

[zipplewrath]

2. You presume that Obama wanted those things

"...I thought he would call Ben Nelson and Blanch Lincoln into the White House and tell them they WILL be on board on Health Care or NEVER win another democratic election again. I thought Obama would sit down and tell the pentagon that we WILL be out of Iraq by the end of 2010, and that does not mean 50,000 troops still there."

You presume that Nelson and Lincoln stopped him from getting what he really wanted. You presume he wanted out if Iraq quicker. I began to understand Obama alot better when I began to realize he's getting an awful lot of what he wants from congress and from his own choices. Remember, he campaigned for Lincoln, and Specter.

[Ernesto]

3. Be honest here.

Obama inherited a "world of shit" (USMC term)

[asdjrocky]

4. This has to be one of the biggest political failures in American history.

There are two ways to look at it from my angle, it was planned or they are totally incompetent. Either way, it's not good for us.

[earthside]

5. Oh, how true.

I had discussions with friends after the 2008 election and musing over the ascendancy of moderate liberalism, that Obama's election could be one of those transformational events that moved the country towards some real sustainable change.

Of course, it was my opinion all along, even during the campaign, that the voters were in a mood for much more change than even Obama, himself, understood. All he had to do was grab the bull by the horns and use the bully pulpit to urge big, bold, generational change. Man, he had an economic crisis that would have allowed him to break-up banks and big corporations and maybe even push for some real campaign finance reform.

And what we have got is tinkering at the edges, compromise, so-called bipartisanship, and timidity.

What is wrong with Obama, I still haven't figured out -- why he lacks long-range vision, why he thinks Repuglicans will someday be his friends, why he cannot roll up his sleeves and fight, really fight for the common, everyday Americans. There is a serious flaw in his leadership ability that I certainly didn't see during the campaign.

It is likely now that instead of progressive transformation we are going to get a regression into Reaganism. I am one who sees the Repuglicans taking both houses of Congress in November and (very sadly) Pres. Obama becoming even more obsequious towards Boner and McChinless.

The momentum is gone ... an historical opportunity squandered.

[leeroysphitz]

6. Yep. A once in a century chance to enact true reform squandered.

Gone forever.

Wasted, for no good reason by an administration of professional fence sitters.

[wellst0nev0ter]

7. I Kinda Knew We Were In For Shenanigans Once Obama

let Joe Fucking Lieberman keep his committee seat after he won the election. Did they really think that that son of a bitch who did everything in his power to ratfuck his campaign was going to get on board with his policies if he kisses his ring? Sometimes, they way they refuse to operate in the real world simply amazes me.

[KansasVoter]

9. I agree. That was a clear sign!!!

[kenny blankenship]

8. Never before has so much been pissed away so quickly by so few

to the bitter cost of so many. Literally a once in a lifetime chance to change directions as a country - shortcircuited, aborted, preempted and hijacked. When will the Age of Reagan finally be over? The curtains should have rung down hard starting January 2009. Instead we saw the briefest interruption of capitalist dominance, and as soon as the Banking Mafia was reliquefied courtesy of the US worker's future earnings and taxes, the politics of the United States began running away to the right again, faster than a scalded dog. None of the five families has been sent to jail or even charged with a crime.

Thanks Obama! You saved Reagan's Legacy!

[jpak]

10. I'm so mad at the GOP and centrist Dems in the Senate for their obstruction in 2009 and 2010

just sayin'

[donheld]

11. I cannot describe the disappointment and disillusionment

I've had the last several months.