Cross-Posted at Wild Wild Left; Originally posted at Jay's Right of Assembly

I have been a little puzzled by the Progressive Bloggerati's recent anger at Obama.  Given Obama's unique background in community organizing and international culture, we had a legitimate hope that he might turn out to be more than he promised — but it was never more than a hope.  

So Obama turns out to be exactly what he promised, no more.  He'll sign anything decent that comes out of Congress — which is a HUGE difference from the prior resident (who promised to veto anything decent that came out of Congress).  Obama has also mostly appointed decent people into the federal administrative and judicial apparatus, whereas the prior resident mostly appointed cronies and crooks. HUGE difference, which matters every day.  

For smart progressive strategists, that's pretty much the end of the analysis. Not because Obama couldn't be better, but because the Presidency is no longer an effective leverage point for us.  We can make much more progress by fixing the MORE broken parts of the political system, and then using Obama opportunistically to our advantage, than we can by beating on him for incremental improvements.  

So I was puzzled by all the anger, which is not only a waste of energy, but also suggests a misapprehension of reality.  Happily, Buhdydharma, nailed the phenomenon in today's piece "Obama Can't Save You…Remedial Politics."  Buhdy said it better than I would have.  

So here is what I think is the big-picture context that explains how we are to deal with Obama, and similar imminent disappointments.