The honeymoon period for President Barack Obama is more than just over, as alluded to in "Change Your Expectations" (Jan. 20). In fact, the plane crashed on the way back from Hawaii. The end of the beginning can be seen in a stimulus package that was so good, it may need repetition (someone please explain that to me). Next we can see faults on the international stage. In 2009 we saw four 'solid' deadlines on Iran's clearly militaristic nuclear agenda that vaporized when it came time to doing anything real like issue sanctions. At the same time we saw a halt to all progress in Middle East peace while Obama stated this past week that, when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, "this is just really hard." Then somewhere between the nearly successful Christmas day bomb attempt and the healthcare proposal being rammed down our throats, the good people of Massachusetts actually elected a Republican Senator. The state bluer than Papa Smurf himself, with three registered Democrats to every Republican, decided that DC was just too liberal. If that isn't a message that the Hope-train has hit a Reality-bump, I don't know what is.
Joel Taubman\nSEAS I