The way I see it, I will strongly support Obama next time around, barring something incredible in the next three years, like a take-over of the planet by aliens or something. I, like many others who strongly supported Obama in 2008, do feel some disappointments since he took office. Why did I strongly support Obama in 2008? My perhaps overly simplistic, but yet true, answer is below.
From my point of view, the reason I worked hard for Obama was simple: on a scale of 0 to 10, I viewed Obama as around a "6" - maybe a "6.5." McCain/Palin was a 0; no doubt about it - an absolute 0. There were no others who could win in the general election. The choice was so crystal clear - I was willing to work very hard to greatly increase the chances of the nation and the world improving and surviving for the sake of my children; the alternative was beyond frightening and beyond madness.
What about now? Yes I am disappointed in Obama, but there is a vast difference between him and the alternative. As one example, his Supreme Court nominee.
What about in 2012? Even if I become very dissppointed in Obama by then, he probably would still score at least a 3 out of 10. You can see what the the Republican party is - how frightening and seriously disastrous would it be to have one of them become the president for 4 years? It certainly seems clear to me that any Republican would still be a 0 out of 10. A "3" versus a "0" - okay, maybe not my favorite two things to choose between, but the reality is that the ratio between these numbers is infinity. I would still fight very hard for the survival of the planet and work very hard for Obama, even if the choice is between a 3 and a 0.
I wish there were an electable green party candidate; if there were little difference between the democrat and the republican in terms of the survival of the planet, I would go that route; but the way I see it, there is still a great, great difference between the two choices. There is - unfortunately - no alternative but to fight as hard as we can for what we know to be the better choice. The alternative is absolute disaster.