You didn’t notice, but I have not posted anything since the election. (Gloating is so rude.)
To ease back into the political world, this entire post is merely hoping you take a look that this article (a chart, really) from the New York Times.
It is a blunt and fair assessment of the President’s first four years. He deserves much credit for, among other things, saving us from a full-blown Depression, ending two horribly costly wars, and beginning the difficult task of fixing our notoriously antiquated health care system .
And he clearly stumbled as well, particularly, in my view, in his handling of the housing crisis and Wall Street Reform.
Let’s hope the “New Obama” we saw at yesterday’s glorious Inauguration festivities carries through on his promises, explicit and implied, over the coming four years.
Sanity First! 
I notice the chart fails to address the areas where he has received most criticism from civil libertarians: transparency and the continuation of Bush era policies on things like targeted assasinations, rendition, warrentless wire taps, etc. Nor did it discuss the dubious legal oversight of drone attacks.
These are areas where he’s receiving pushback from both the right and left, though, curiously, not the beltway media.