That's the real concern.

He seems pathologically unable to draw a line - as soon as someone whines about how it isn't fair, or it won't work, or they just don't like it, he seems to be right there to make some sort of adjustment.

The stimulus was not bold, and now that he is talking about getting spending under control, he is taking the oomph out of the stimulus before it has even gotten started.  He likens himself to FDR, but did he make note of what happened to economic progress when FDR gave in to the GOP on spending?  FDR gave it at least a couple of years before he gave in - the ink is barely dry on Obama's signature on the stimulus bill and he's ready to start cutting.

Obama has some political clout at this time.

What he is doing with it, for me, ranges from the barely adequate on the domestic front (the economy), totally inadequate on the domestic front in terms of restoring our civil liberties and right to privacy, and dangerous on foreign affairs - war and peace.

Obama is at his best when he can talk about the generalities of why we are all in this together and the vague problems that we all see.  But our country is solidly divided on many issues, and at some point he has to get to specifics that half the country is going to disagree with.  To exercise leadership, he has to lead us somewhere.  All he has really showed his cards on so far has been the stimulus plan--everything else (Iraq, Healthcare, TARP, Afghanistan) has been announcements that there would be announcements at some point--and that showed a lack of leadership. (Perhaps that is not fair...he did push for the Democrats to drop all the provisions that Republicans hated in the stimulus...that was leadership, I guess.  I am just annoyed by the lack of boldness.)

War with Iran imminent
20% staff reduction in fed gov't
Stock Market at 3500
Money printing presses installed at the banks
Double spending in Iraq and Afghanistan
"My friends" over and over and over

Many submitters here seem to think that Obama has the power to roll back legislation at his whim, or that he should engage in the same use (abuse?) of executive power as his predecessor.  Since we know he can't in the first case and shouldn't in the second, and since there are some pressing issues that could use more analysis than they're getting, maybe we should cut him a little slack in the timeframe dept?

Geithner doesn't have a complete staff at Treasury.  There are still unfilled seats in the cabinet.  The Republicans are reverting to Gingrich era tactics.  The left is going crazy wanting everything DONE NOW.

Anyone who didn't expect missteps early on is delusional.  Anyone who didn't expect some dilution of the stimulus is delusional, or hasn't observed politics in the past 20 years.  

The very fact that he's poised to close Guantanamo and that he's got a stimulus bill in place tells me that he's got some leadership skills.  The fact that he's being pragmatic with the American people while at the same time shewering the Republican a bit tells me the same thing.  We will never get everything we want out of any politician.  But, if, as it appears, he's bent on leaving us with some tangible reform in the areas of financial regulation, healthcare and the war effort, then I'm cool.    

The Obama administration is still in it's "honeymoon" phase.  As of Feb. 23, no one's even had to pay their income taxes once since he was elected.  Obama's proven that he can motivate Americans to feel good about themselves, but so far I think that he's been just as timid about seriously trying to get Americans to significantly sacrifice anything (their own time, their own money...) as Bush was.

A few months after the stimulus projects get started and the tax cuts take effect, a lot of people will probably start to feel that they aren't getting as good a deal as their neighbors.  Whether that wouild be true or not doesn't matter - it's plain human nature.  (We're all greedy selfish sinners, after all.)