http://www.thedailybeast.com/...
Andrew Sullivan does a great job of addressing critiques from the right and left of Obama's first term and makes the argument that Obama has done a significant amount in his presidency and shortcomings can be seen as part of a long game.
What matters to him is what he can get done, not what he can immediately take credit for. And so I railed against him for the better part of two years for dragging his feet on gay issues. But what he was doing was getting his Republican defense secretary and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs to move before he did. The man who made the case for repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” was, in the end, Adm. Mike Mullen. This took time—as did his painstaking change in the rule barring HIV-positive immigrants and tourists—but the slow and deliberate and unprovocative manner in which it was accomplished made the changes more durable. Not for the first time, I realized that to understand Obama, you have to take the long view. Because he does.
Note: This is a short post with only one quote from a 4 page article. To make relevant, productive comments, you need to read the linked article. one line comments on your views of Obama, good or bad don't contribute to an interesting comment section.