How's My Driving?
One year after Obama’s election night win, Garry Wills, Katrina vanden Heuvel, Walter Isaacson, and others assess whether the president has delivered on America’s soaring expectations.
Michael J. Maloney, Pool / Getty Images
Just Another PoliticianBy Monica Crowley
Once perceived as transformative, Obama now looks more and more like a regular politician, ensnared by petty squabbles, obsessed with politics instead of leadership, and often paralyzed by decision-making.
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Trillion Is the New Billion By The Daily Beast Video
Bush was a disaster at cutting spending, but under Obama the U.S. deficit is $1.8 billion and the cost of health-care reform is $829 billion. These numbers are going to sink us, says Christopher Buckley. WATCH VIDEO.
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More Credit DeservedBy Walter Isaacson
Obama hasn’t put an end to the partisan vitriol, but he should get more recognition for preventing our financial system from going off a cliff.
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In his campaign for the presidency, Obama said he was not against war, just against dumb wars. Yet he is waging and expanding the dumbest kind of war—and creating his very own Vietnam.
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No Messiah, but a Good SwimmerBy Katrina vanden Heuvel
Denouncing the Obama administration’s missteps or worse doesn’t get us far—it promotes exactly what the president’s adversaries seek: his political disempowerment.
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Dangers Come After Year OneBy Larry Sabato
History has taught us not to take presidential first years too seriously: No one foresaw how Vietnam would doom LBJ or Watergate would unhorse Nixon.
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You Can't Ask for MoreBy Ted Widmer
For the vast middle of this country, and the even vaster populations that lie beyond it, it has been a relatively good year.
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If Only Obama's Performance Mattered More By Rick Perlstein
The last year has taught a hard lesson in the power of a determined minority to keep the majority in check. Forty senators representing about 9 percent of Americans can filibuster Obama’s initiatives—and the media declares him a failure.
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Obama Needs a LeftBy Michael Kazin
For the president to have a chance at becoming another FDR, he needs a big push from the left—or the conservative assumptions that have kept the nation in thrall for the past three decades will continue to hold sway..
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