Obama's First Year in Office

One year ago today at noon eastern time, Obama was inaugurated president of the United States.

We didn't know what kind of executive Obama would be. He had never been one. Sure, we had heard all his rhetoric and promises, but what sort of president would he be in reality?

Now, we know.

How you evaluate the 25 percent of Obama's presidency that he's completed depends on whether you're liberal or conservative, whether you favor his agenda or not.

From my perspective, in his first year, Obama has earned himself these labels:

Failure

Liar

Coward

Appeaser

Power grabber

Bad listener

Slow learner

Liberal extremist

Radical Leftist

Divisive

Weak

Ignorant

Cold

Cruel

Arrogant

Selfish

Thoughtless

Anti-life

Naive

Secretive

Unpopular

He hasn't been all bad, but I certainly don't give him a solid B+.

Am I better off today than I was a year ago?

No. Nooooooo, not all.

For Obama, the last 365 days have been the year of living failingly. Not cool.

What's interesting about his first year in office is liberals and conservatives alike find common ground in their disapproval of Obama. (Maybe he has brought us together a little bit.)

For conservatives, he's been the disaster we dreaded. Actually, he's worse than I thought he'd be. I really didn't think he would overreach to the extent that he has. What incredibly bad judgment! What poor planning!

For liberals and some of his supporters, he's been an utter disappointment. He broke his word to them again and again.

The Obama of Inauguration Day 2009 was a mythic figure. In reality, he wasn't up to the job. His many broken promises and flat-out lies made that clear. All that hope and change stuff was a facade. It sounded good but Obama's words were empty.

He could have accomplished anything he wanted. He had the Dems in the House and Senate to render Republicans powerless. NO Republicans had the ability to stand in Obama's way. They couldn't obstruct him. The only thing that prevented Obama and his radical Leftist flunkies from enacting their agenda was fear.

They went weak-kneed and wobbly because they feared they would lose power, that the people would turn on them. Their fears were justified. It's unfortunate that Obama succeeded in duping the American people into electing him. Thank God, they woke up. They're wide awake now. (Congratulations, Scott Brown!)

Obama as the post-racial, post-partisan president was a fairy tale. He's had one year to be transcendent, to rise above politics as usual.

He didn't deliver, plain and simple.

Maybe Obama has learned something this past year. Maybe he'll lose some of that arrogance. Maybe some humility will set in and he'll stop thinking of himself as a larger-than-life, historic figure in his own time.

The fact is Obama is very human, as revealed by his many, many screw-ups during his first year in office.

I suppose there's hope that he'll change, but I don't think he's ready to really listen to the people he was elected to serve. Even as he was handed that crushing defeat in Massachusetts (MASSACHUSETTS!), I don't think he'll get the message.

Bottom line: Americans don't approve of what Obama has done as president. He's lurched to the far Left. We don't like where he wants to take the country. We don't share his vision for America.

Obama can turn things around. He has three more years in office to get his act together. For the sake of the country, I hope he does.

It's kind of funny that the person in most need of change has turned out to be Obama himself.