Rate the Presidents, Installment #44: Barack Obama

[KingSweden]

Four stars. I supported McCain in '08 but have become a Democrat since then largely because of my pleasant surprise at how Obama has handled himself (and due to the GOP flying off the rails in the intervening years). I think he hobbled himself early both by drinking the Kool-Aid of his "hope and change" campaign and not recognizing how cutthroat politics at this level were earlier, but he's done some good things over the years and has really kicked it into a high gear ever since the midterm debacle last fall. A sharper analyst than I would have to deduce why that is.

I don't think, like some Ds on here do, that he is a top-five President, and my politics are probably closer to those of Bill and Hillary Clinton than to the Obama wing of the party, but I think he has acquitted himself well and has avoided major scandals, embarassment to the office and has steered the country well both at home and abroad, even with numerous missteps and miscalculations that befall every President.