I honestly don't think that he has the option of not pissing off the hard left. He *does* have to work within the system, and the Republican house does have the sole power of impeachment. Honestly, I think that he is riding that line rather closely in attempting to keep the hard left happy. It kinda seems to me as though a lot of people (on both sides) have a *vastly* exagerated idea of the powers of the presidency.

I know that a lot of democrats are *highly* upset that Guantanamo is still open, and that's the most understandable of the criticisms, but he did legitimately explore every option for closing it. This is one of those areas where I don't feel that he was prepared for the actual job of presidency, I think that he had some ideological ideas that were not ultimately correct about the situation. And now he can't just come out and say "no, Shrub was right, these really are terrible terrible people", imagine the howling *that* would kick up!

I think that a lot of the problems that people on both sides have with him are in that vein. I don't think that the economy is his fault, It's an artifact of china development and our culture having been so wealthy for so long. I don't think that he's responsible for our continued presence in Afghanistan, that war was unwinnable. I don't think that he's to blame for the deficits, the political situation makes *both* of the things that could reduce it impossible. So yeah, I think he gets a lot of flack he really doesn't deserve. President is a tough gig.