Like many others have said here, he was handed a shit sandwich and has been trying to make the best of it. That doesn't mean I agree with everything he has done, but I think he has done some good stuff to help us get back on track. At the same time I think he has taken his eye off the ball and messed some things up.
I think the hardest part of being president is that first 1-1.5 years. you get into office with big expectations (and none were ever higher than those for Obama) and you have all these promises you have made and things you want to do then you realize that the reality of saying you are going to do them and actually being able to get them done are two different things. Our system is set up in a way that when you want something, if the other party doesn't want it, they have plenty of ways to stop it and there has been no shortage of that.
Could he have done a better job with the oil spill? Maybe, but I don't see it as being his Katrina. They are two very different things. Rules and laws basically forced him to stay out of it if he gave an executive order to let the government step in and take over, the republicans would have shit little green elk because the Socialist was now taking over the oil industry.
All this said, I think he is getting his feet under him and learning how to play the game. He is starting to do things that maybe he should have done a year ago, but at least he is moving towards them. I have a feeling that the republicans will win back the house in the fall so we will have a republican house and a democrat senate and white house. Maybe that will cause him to curb in some of his big spending ideas and focus more on balancing the budget now, instead of 12 years from now. It worked well for Clinton when he had to deal with the republicans.
Overall I give him a grade of a B and I think things are looking up. I think he needs to get on immigration reform ASAP or we are going to quickly see this country start to be torn apart as the red and blue states fight with each other over the different laws they pass.
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