[WS:] This is politics, not marriage vows for chrisssake. Every candidate once elected "breaks" his campaign promises simply because that is the nature of the political process. Promises are merely intentions - which ones if any are implements depends on the political power balance.
Obama is a president, not a dictator - he cannot rule by decree, he must negotiate and compromise. And as a matter of fact, he is a centrist president of a country whose political center of gravity is far to the right. He run on a centrist platform, and his policies are fundamentally centrist - there has never been anything "progressive" (whatever that means) or social democratic about them. In that respect, his campaign promises and policies are far more consistent than, say, those of Bush who run on a "compassionate conservatism" no-nation-building platform, and turned out to be an arrogant warmonger that run this country into not one, but two "nation-building" wars. If O is perceived as a left-of-the-center liberal, it is only because the center of political gravity in this country is so far to the right.
I am quite nonplussed by the inconsistency between the radical 'systemic' view of capitalism (it is all system, not individuals, yada, yada, yada) and the deeply personal guilt tripping on Obama. Which is it - the system or personal character? Or either one, depending what conclusions are needed?
Wojtek