Look, the situation is simple. Obama has done what he had little choice but to do. Risky? In the long run, not likely. Painful for some, sure. Some serious belt-tightening, at the Federal Level, has to come. Still, a lot of economic issues can, in no way, be controlled or even influenced by the President(or Congress, really). A lot of what folks whine about has been decades in the making: a diminished industrial capacity, aging infrastructure, outsourced skilled labor, expensive healthcare costs.....all this and more didn't arrive here overnight. Further, as Jumo sort of tried to grasp elsewhere, no matter who is in power, the same group of people make out well, and the rest are largely unimportant. To change THAT status quo will take a huge portion of the populace getting so fed up they throw ALL the bums out, both Dem and Republican, and send a unmistakable message. For a short while, I had some hope that this sort of effort might start with that
"Tea Party" movement, but, sadly, it quickly drew in the right wing talk-radio whackos, along with a small dose of 'out with the nigga President' types. Thus, by the time the DC march came about, it was a laughingstock among virtually every sane person I work with(from all sides of politics).
Like I've said, my gut is that Obama has done a reasonable job, having walked into the office in a tough time.
He's done it with a fair amount of grace, a bit of humor, and a clear change in Presidential attitude and aptitude compared to his predecessor. The world clearly seems to appreciate that part. I've never gotten the Obama-worship extreme, any more that I 'get' the Reagan Myths or other, similar, hero worship.
Overall, while not hurtling toward a spot on Mt. Rushmore, Obama is hardly embarassing either himself, or us, as a nation.
However, I do think he has been too willing, in the name of bipartisanship, and probably reflective of his personal nature, to deliberate overly long. He also seems too open to compromise to be able to bring about the change a lot of people expected of him. I think he sincerely thought he could address the inequalities I mentioned above, before a 'throw them all out' moment arrived. The result may well be that the usual folks win out, yet again, at the expense of the overall population. Healthcare is a prime example. Overhaul, even to the tune of single payer(radical socialism

)would benefit most of the nation, help most businesses, and would only hurt those heavily invested in Pharma or Insurance. What will be acceptable, to the gracious Obama, will be(I fear) a watered-down piece of crap that accomplishes nothing beyond adding a layer of bureacracy. What Obama needs to do, and fast IMHO, is realize why he got elected, and use the fact that he is roughly 3 times as popular as either Congressional delegation to jam the correct legislation through. Time will tell if he develops that strength or not. 9 months into the term is way too little time to make a final judgement. At least, as I stated before, he hasn't gotten 3400 of our residents killed by being so stupid as to ignore blatant warnings of impending attack.