Feeling disappointed with Obama, ctd

On the liberal disappointment with Obama, Jonathan Chait pushes back:

Liberals are dissatisfied with Obama because liberals, on the whole, are incapable of feeling satisfied with a Democratic president. They can be happy with the idea of a Democratic president—indeed, dancing-in-the-streets delirious—but not with the real thing. The various theories of disconsolate liberals all suffer from a failure to compare Obama with any plausible baseline. Instead they compare Obama with an imaginary president—either an imaginary Obama or a fantasy version of a past president.

It certainly seems that way. I don't think that anyone can deny that Obama's performance as president has been thoroughly uninspiring, especially in comparison with the image projected by his campaign. This isn't the administration of hope and change to which voters subscribed in 2008. But although Obama has failed to live up to the enormous hype around his campaign, it would be exceedingly difficult for anyone to doubt his competence. He might not be inspiring, but he certainly isn't incompetent. Like most people, however, I'm a little tired of defending Obama.

Chait goes on to explain why Bill Clinton's role as a liberal fantasy is so oddly misplaced. He also presents conservatives as an interesting counterexample to the liberal perspective on their own presidents, writing that conservative disappointment isn't nearly as common:

While they are certainly capable of expressing frustration with Republican presidents, conservative disappointment is neither as incessant nor as pervasively depressed as the liberal variety. Conservatives are at least as absolutist as liberals in the ideological demands they make upon their leaders, as evidenced by the willingness of large chunks of the base to commit electoral suicide by nominating the series of clowns and half-wits who have taken turns leading the polls alongside or even above Mitt Romney. At the same time, they are far less likely to turn against their president altogether. They assail the compromise but continue to praise the man. Conservatives did turn against George H.W. Bush after he raised taxes. But they stuck loyally with his son well through his midterm election. They remained consistently loyal to Nixon and Reagan. They’ll circle the wagons around Romney, too—trust me.