One Year Later

I probably will not watch the President's entire speech. I always find myself frustrated and annoyed by him when I listen to his speeches. Obviously my ideological biases play a major role here.

I read this scathing critique of Obama's first year by electoral supporter and media boss Mort Zuckerman. His first three paragraphs-

He’s misjudged the character of the country in his whole approach. There’s the saying, “It’s the economy, stupid.” He didn’t get it. He was determined somehow or other to adopt a whole new agenda. He didn’t address the main issue.
This health-care plan is going to be a fiscal disaster for the country. Most of the country wanted to deal with costs, not expansion of coverage. This is going to raise costs dramatically.
In the campaign, he said he would change politics as usual. He did change them. It’s now worse than it was. I’ve now seen the kind of buying off of politicians that I’ve never seen before. It’s politically corrupt and it’s starting at the top. It’s revolting.

Some of Obama's failures may arise from a feeling of invicibility stemming from his very impressive electoral victory. According to an anecdote from a frustrated demcratic Congressman, the president seemed to feel that his initiatives would succeed based on the strength of his personality. Not so.