During his speeches in the final week of the campaign, Obama said to his supporters that together, "we will change this country. We will change the world."

Those are some pretty big promises. Unfortunately for Obama, most presidents since WWII have suffered from the freshmen blues in their first year in the White House.

Expectations are usually high and the ability of a president to deliver much of what he promised on the campaign trail is rather low. Without a national crisis like 9/11, presidents have struggled in their first year with a general decline in approval ratings.

The reasons are not difficult to understand. International and domestic crises force the White House to focus on unexpected issues, many of which are not in their best political interest. The bitter partisan and intra-party tensions that had caused gridlock for the previous administration remain. Budgetary limits constrain how much tax-cutting or spending increases can take place.

When a president takes office with expectations as high as those for Obama, the chances for avoiding a post-election letdown are virtually nil.

Posted by King1:

I hate black people but I voted for Barack and hope he can carry Missouri.

Posted by NYKBocker:

The kid in the middle is freaking me out.

Posted by djsunyc:

Posted by Bippity10
If anyone on my team played defense like that I would shoot them.