One year after Obama was elected we asked HuffPost readers to compare Obama the candidate to the Obama the President. Has he lived up to his promises and stayed true to his convictions?
Hundreds of people wrote their responses under their HuffPost handle, with the majority defending Obama's measured governing style that has left others longing for the bold convictions that defined the campaign.
"I am disappointed," writes reader peskine. "I canvassed and campaigned heavily for Obama here in New Mexico and he has let down progressives. Where is the temerity we saw when he campaigned?"
Readers cited the health care reform bill as a let-down - "a windfall for private insurers at the end of the day," writes Abraxas79.
The Obama administration has not struck enough of a break from that of George W. Bush, according to some. Wrender writes, "It isn't just about what's not been accomplished. It's his positions on the issues that are troubling. Too much support of Bush policies."
One reader sums up Obama's mixed report card in his short video blog:
Clbrune writes: "Obama could have pushed for accountability, investigations into lawlessness, and repealed executive orders. The notion that he hasn't had enough time to get to these things would only hold water if he were not already actively embracing these very things."
Some readers abstained from judgment, calling it too soon to tell. "Give a guy time to fail," writes kobewarhol. "The left and the right seem one and the same in their inability to be satisfied with a president who is from the left."
The president is "about the same as he was during the election," writes Foxbat. "A left-centrist pragmatist who operates with a penchant for consensus."
That attitude creates difficulties for Obama, according to KVPossum. "Everything he does is a compromise, designed to keep as many people happy as possible, rather than do what he was elected to do."
"Granted some of the decisions have been more than disappointing," writes Serena1313. "I had expected differently, but that does not mean Obama won't deliver eventually. By the same token it doesn't mean he will either."
The president's restrained approach is ultimately an encouraging trait for the leader of "a nation that prefers passion to reason," writes Jazzcomedian. "Since 1968 we've elected a crook (Nixon), a politically incompetent humanitarian (Carter), an amiable dunce (Reagan), a mediocre patrician (Bush 41), a gifted, good hearted philanderer (Clinton), and the trifecta, a neo-con, amiable, dunce (Bush 43). Now we have President Obama who I view as intelligent, hardworking, and pragmatic with a genuine interest in the working and middle class."