Obama and his campaign warned those of us on the left of mainstream not to expect too, too much. While it's easy to fool yourself into thinking of those warnings as just words, it's probably the reality that Obama's moderation is genuine.

Which, of course, makes it so frustrating to see him smeared as some sort of American Che Guevara.

I know I've said this before, but it seems to me that Obama's take on America is that it needs to be repaired, not rebuilt from the ground up. If you're me, you kind of suspect that the car is totaled and that any cosmetic work you do to the bent frame is not going to last. He doesn't see it that way.

Reasonable people can disagree.

I do think that he's doing more good than harm. There are a few things I disagreed with him about that I still disagree with him about. They mostly have to do with health care and homeland security. On health care, I'll concede that my desires might have been impractical. On homeland security, I think a lighter touch is now in order, but I understand why no president will take the risk.

Now, here are some things I've decided I was wrong about over the course of Obama's first term:

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