Obama is no messiah, but he's no Bush either. He's someway between the two, and that's a huge-ass improvement over the worst president in the history of America. Personally, on current form, I think Obama will become one of the most beloved presidents in American history. People are clutching at reasons to be cynical (e.g. appointing some of the better people who served Clinton not being change) but from what I can see he is following through on his promises - he's massively increasingly transparency, appointing people on merit, and talking big about some very important issues. Treating green energy like the space race is going to make a huge difference to the world and it's about damn time too.