Are Barack Obama's first two years a failure?

I hear this question asked a lot, and read about it even more. The midterm elections can be taken to be a referendum on his leadership, and even he admits having let people down in this area. For me, the answer depends on what it is people were expecting from him.

If you were expecting, that at this point in his term, he would have fixed the American and World Economy, changed the culture of Washington DC, repealed don't ask don't tell, closed Guantanomo, repealed the Bush tax cuts on all but the wealthiest 2% of Americans,  continued the momentum of the 'Obama' movement created in the 2008 campaign, ended the war in Iraq and set an expiry date in Afghanistan then you are likely disappointed. I have a lot of friends in both the States and Canada that feel this way.

I'm always a little surprised by this, by my view Barack said he would work to achieve all of the things he listed above...but he consistently demonstrated that he was a pragmatist, and occasionally demonstrated a realistic angle. When he started running for office, until very late in his entire campaign (maybe a year and a half into it), very few people were predicting how bad the world economy was becoming. This issue dominated his transition and forced his legislative agenda into what was a wildly unpopular stimulus and auto industry bailout. His style in shaping this agenda was perhaps his biggest failure, in that it didn't prevent the Republican party from unifying as a cohesive 'no' vote on almost every issue that elected representatives have brought forward.

Beyond that though, my hunch is that ten years from now we'll look back on the American government achievements from 2008 to 2010 with amazement. This group of leaders shaped a new direction for health care in the USA that will raise the standard of living across the board, and may help stop the dissolution of the middle class. The stimulus package, auto bailout and regulatory reform bills likely prevented an unprecedented disaster, and the American economy has been showing slow signs of recovery for months now (just not at the rate the public would like).

So for me, I got what I wanted from him. I wish that there was a way to maintain and use the engagement that was created in the 2008 campaign, and I hope that the friends I have working to achieve that continue to find new and innovative methods of working towards that goal.

My desire is that we can find leaders in Canada who will be willing to take huge political risks to accomplish 'big' things like they have done in the states.

For integrity sake, I should note that I was inspired to put words to this line of thought by this Slate.com article. I think it's a little overly glowing, but it was the first thing I read that put me in a place to remember what they have accomplished in the USA.