If you are disappointed in Obama you may be falling for the Republican's ploy.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

142. I think that that's partly true

He might not have had to bend so much to Blue Dogs and Republicans had the Republicans not been so lockstep obstructionist and a few more Republicans had been willing to vote their consciences but there have been a few things that I haven't necessarily agreed with too - though nothing that I would consider a "deal breaker" and I'm not sure that there is anything that Obama could do that would ever be as horrendous as what the Republican Tea Partiers could and would do control WH for 4-8 years (with Congress to boot).
I think that this "strategy" (if you want to call it that) is mostly effective with the low-information voters whom don't fully understand how the federal government (WH & Congress) operate and believe that the President can just get what he/she wants and that if they don't, then they're somehow a failure as a leader. The way George W. Bush was perceived to have governed seems to reinforce this myth though a.)He didn't get absolutely EVERYTHING he wanted and b.)He got most of what he wanted due to Republican control of Congress for six of his eight years as POTUS and those Republican Congresses rubberstamped virtually his entire agenda, including the wasteful and ineffective Medicare Drug Prescription Plan, budget busting tax cuts before and during two simultaneous wars/occupations (one of which was clearly a "war of choice&quot . The Republican Tea Party essentially counts on most people being too ignorant and/or oblivious to realize that even though one party can technically control the Senate (i.e. the Democrats), the other party (i.e. Republicans) can actually gum up the works so badly that the body can't even proceed to a simple up-or-down vote on a bill (let alone ensure its passage) without a supermajority (which is not technically how it's supposed to work but most people aren't even knowledgeable enough to know THAT either).