The above cartoon kind of mirrors what I think of the Obama administration to date. I actively supported his candidacy for president based on his rhetoric during the campaign. He said he was for change and I think the country can use an awful lot of that right now. I had very high hopes for the first African-American president. And then came the compromises. They all seemed to be pretty one-sided to me.

• Yes, he did get Obamacare passed but it had morphed into an insurance company windfall by the time it became law.

• He started out with great plans for alternate energy but dropped them under a budget crunch and then took up the “drill baby drill” mantra

• He said he was for putting the upper income tax rate back to where it was before Bush but then caved in on that.

• He was adamant about getting us out of foreign wars but we still have about the same number of troop in conflict across the world

• He vowed to close Gitmo but it is still open and with military tribunals

I guess I was pretty naive to think that he could actually accomplish what he talked about but then I didn’t see the total opposition to any change that the Republican party morphed into. Those guys are determined to stop any of his initiatives even if it means taking the country down in the process and given their opposition to raising the debt limit that day might not be too far in the future. They have given new meaning to “cutting off your nose to spite your face”.

So here I am almost totally discouraged that President Obama seems to be overwhelmed by the Republican opposition and constantly caving in to them to gain even the smallest change. I hope you win a second term Mr. President because the alternative of having another president like Mr. Bush is incomprehensible to me. But I am looking to 2016 for another version of you who maybe has stronger convictions to go with the determined rhetoric.  I am disappointed in your administration but maybe I shouldn’t be. Maybe gridlock and extreme partisanship are just a part of the country now for at least as long as it exists.