by Erik Berglund

Created on: October 01, 2009   Last Updated: October 03, 2009

It is nine months into Barack Obama's Presidency, and already some have decided that he is destined to be a one term President. It is not hard to see why. He promised alot during his campaign, and with large promises come high expectations. Raising expectations during a political campaign is a double edged sword. On the one hand, voters are inherently cynical about the political process and are always looking for a reason to believe that the next candidate will truly act in the best interests of the populous, no matter the political cost. On the other hand, making promises that cannot be kept may compromise re-election hopes. Striking a balance is a challenge, to say the least.

Promising "change" is often a smart move for a politician whose party is on the outside looking in, but Obama could credibly make this promise for at least two reasons: because he really was an outsider, having only been a Senator for two years, and because he had opposed the Iraq War when almost everyone in Washington supported it. This left him in a favorable position to make the elusive promise that every voter wants to hear.

There were reasons to believe that Barack Obama could bring real change to Washington, D.C. The Bush presidency and changing demographics left the Republican party as weak as it has been since the Great Depression. The economy was a mess, the war in Iraq was unpopular and Bush had been exposed as a pure political opportunist who was very out of touch with the common man. This made Obama's populist rhetoric an easy sell in the general election, especially given that Obama had McCain on tape bragging that he "supported the President 90% of the time."

But now Obama has to deliver on his promises. He has to provide tangible change. Although he has overwhelming majorities in both houses of Congress, the deck is still stacked against change in many ways. Change is a difficult concept for politicians who have been in Washington for years. Inertia typically helps politicians who have been around for many generations.

Obama was forced to use a significant amount of his political capital on a bailout of large banks and auto companies due to circumstances beyond his control. He was forced to support, but could not control the bail-out during the election. He was then forced to implement Part II of the bail-out to prevent what many feared would become the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

Any stimulus package is an obvious target for political attacks. When

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