Talking to people in and around Atlanta, one dude who clearly wasn't a fan of Dubya did have an admiration for him insofar that (and I paraphrase)
"No matter what dumbass idea he* had, even if it was going to wreck the country, he always stuck to his guns. If he said he was going to do something, he did it."As startling as that striking observation was, determination as a character trait isn't considered a flaw; on the contrary, its something that most would consider a strength. Although misplaced in so many ways the way George W. Bush used it during his term, President Obama isn't displaying the same kind of iron-willed fortitude as his predecessor, allowing the right-wing to scare out moderates by putting words in his mouth and the left to grow increasingly dissatisfied with his performance to date. So we have an appearance of indecision, sheepish policy statements and general confusion among some of those who are acting more hysterically than others.
Of course the standard "special interests rule this town" argument can still be applicable to the debate, but if the Obama administration wanted everyone to have affordable health insurance, he would finagle a way for everyone to get it, instead of having conservative pundits showing an uncharacteristic regard for the environment by lamenting at the amount of paper wasted every time they take out a copy of it to show how large and complicated it looks (In comparison to what, we shall never know.)
It seems that some of the respect for Obama would be restored for him if he did a little more of this instead of umming and ahhing.
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*Its also worth noting that the same friend I quoted also used "A load of Dubya Bush" as a synonym for "bullshit."