I agree, give Obama more time. In time I hope we'll all realize that whether a man is white or black, republican or democrat, poorly spoken or a gifted orator, if he doesn't have experience he will simply be a puppet of his advisors, pushing whatever button he's asked. That is not leadership, regardless of how nice you look on TV. Perhaps someday people in this country will apply the same selection criteria for their president that they apply for their mechanic, doctor, or baby sitter. It's certainly not all about experience, but it does help. Sadly the country didn't learn and apply this lesson in the last election, choosing instead to believe that the difference between good and bad leaders can be measured in public speaking ability (which is why he beat out Clinton and all the other Dems for nomination, then McCain for the presidency, and now is being defended as so much different and better than Bush).

We'll see where we go in the next 3 years, but IMO we can chalk up two pretty big mistakes so far:

1. Stimulus packages based on the same theory that people use for gambling - if you're not winning, you just need to keep pouring money into the table until everything comes up okay. It's embarassing that a President had to literally beg bank CEOs last month to start lending money again, after we lent them trillions to cover their irresponsible lending. So far these packages have had no perceivable effect other than to guarantee higher taxes for my daughter's generation.

2. Pushing a massive medical reform package during the worst recession since the Great Depression. Make no mistake, the push has nothing to do with the urgency of the issue or the reform bill's potential to unburden people without insurance. It's because all indications are that the Democrats will lose at least some of their majority in the mid-term elections, so the best chance for a fillibuster proof majority is right now.

Keep in mind that we won't really have 3 more years to evaluate either. The election is in Nov of 2012, which means he'll need to begin campaigning at least 12-18 months earlier (so say Aug of 2011). Given how much he loves campagining, even while on the job (anyone care to count the number of town hall meetings since last January?), I'd say even that estimate is conservative. So figure we can make a pretty good judgement by next summer, when he's about 2 1/2 years in. If that's not enough time, well, I guess we'll just have to re-elect him to see what he can do right?