How Good Is Obama?

Everybody knows what Obama's top priorities were in his first term: enact healthcare reform, beat back the recession, rein in reckless banks better protect consumers. Whether he accomplished those missions is a mixed verdict. Obamacare still faces a key Supreme Court challenge and for the most part won't go into effect until 2014. Obama's stimulus measures helped the economy heal, but fell far short of Obama's own expectations. It's hard to tell if the banks are behaving better, and many consumers feel worse off than they did four years ago, regardless of how much the government has done to protect them. Obama and his re-election team surely know all that, and there's no doubt they'll craft a fresh plan meant to assuage doubters. But Obama has missed the mark before on issues voters care most about, such as jobs, the national debt, fading prosperity, and the future of Medicare and Social Security. Can he fix this in time for reelection?