Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

You sound the the little kid whining because a parent broke a promise. Six months in office he has done more than most president. The author must be from the from the generaton of instant gratification? You expect too much to soon. If at the end of 2.5 years he has made half of his promises, I'll still give him an A.

An Obama has not fixed everything yet. What an abject failure of a president we have elected.

Where is my high-speed rail? Where are the new jobs? Why is the air still dirty? Why are we still in the Middle East? Why hasn't Israel embraced the formation of a Palestinian state?

Why isn't everything FIXED like Obama promised?

Oh, wait. He didn't say that things would be done by June 1?

I guess I can wait until July.

Did you sincerely expect a politician to make good on his campaign promises? Really?

his commitments to restoring human rights in America, and righting the wrongs of the Bush/Cheney administration.

That should be good for a little light hearted chuckle, too.

Don't worry bout us Obama, we're just the little people. Aren't we cute?

..I'm sure Mr. Sirota has a few other recent issues with the President that he's not mentioning here.

That's the thing about running for POTUS. You don't know how bad it is until you get there.

On a side note, I see Salon is trying to save a few dollars by running syndicated pieces, which are a great deal cheaper than paying your own columnists. If you fired the "Ask a Wingnut" guy you'd probably be able to afford another serious liberal like Greenwald.

Just a suggestion.

Oh, and Obama is still light years better than Bush or McCain.

clearly. That's an unfortunately easy comparison.

I certainly can understand, and empathize, with Mr. Sirota's frustration, a frustration felt by much of the left in these early days of the Obama presidency. However, I wonder what Mr. Sirota, and others would expect of this (or any other president).

Over Bush's 8 years in office (and, arguably, for the 8 years prior to that), we liberals have built up a huge grocery list of items we'd like to see a Democratic president check off--serious reductions to global warming through a modified energy policy; universal health care; an end to the war on drugs; a reinvention of the nation's decaying education system; a revitalization of its crumbling infrastructure; an end to the 'war on terror' policies of the Bush years; a recasting of the US as a global leader in the peace movement; the destruction of nuclear arms; and on and on.

Of course, any rational person should know that 'great presidents' accomplish half this much, and mediocre presidents (Clinton, for example) end up abandoning much of their agenda whole-cloth, in order to maintain center left leadership in a hostile partisan environment.

Lifting the embargo on Cuba could take months--as Congressional hearings and right wing opposition could endanger gains made in Florida and elsewhere. Renegotiating NAFTA--a treaty so controversial it spawned two Perot campaigns and, more recently, lead to serious diplomatic issues with Canada (?!?!) during last year's campaign.

So, I would ask Mr. Sirota, which of Obama's current policy goals would he like to see risked in order to tackle these issues, or to change current policy on wiretapping, Guantanamo, etc.? Should Obama risk health care reform by angering the right and stirring up the media on Cuba? Should he kiss cap and trade goodbye to focus on NAFTA reform? Should he aid the Republicans in their attempt to paint him (and all Dems) with the old 'soft on foreign policy brush by encouraging a truth commission re: torture?

After thirty plus years of (nearly) uninterrupted center-right rule, we liberals have dozens and dozens of policies we'd like to see changed. But doesn't it make sense for Obama to go after the big, complicated issues of energy, health care, and social security early, leaving some issues for the last 3 (7?) years of his presidency? Already, there is so much concern that he is doing too much too soon in both the media and the public at large--how much 'change' does Mr. Sirota think the country can take? And do he and others expect that Obama will take the last 3 years of his term off, leaving every issue not currently pursued on the table for the next president?