When he was elected president, Barack Obama made it plain that this was an event of some importance. His supporters, he said, had "put their hands on the arc of history and [bent] it once more toward the hope of a better day." He promised to end the war in Iraq, sort out the Taliban, provide health care for all and erect a cap-and-trade system to save the planet. A year later, he has done none of these things, and some of his supporters are starting to grow impatient. Saturday Night Live, a comedy show, reckons his two big accomplishments are "jack" and "squat". "Yes he can" proclaims the cover of Newsweek, "(but he sure hasn't yet)".

Mr Obama, for his part, is beginning to sound exasperated. "I never thought any of this was going to be easy," he told a crowd in New Orleans this month. "Change is hard," he said, "and big change is harder." The crowd was friendly enough, but smaller than the crowds he used to attract during the campaign, and less starry-eyed. One young mother in the audience said she didn't buy "all the hype of hope and change". Generally speaking, she reckoned the president was "on the right path". But she thought his bail-outs of banks and over-leveraged homeowners were "a slap in the face for those of us who are fiscally responsible".

One reason why so many of Mr Obama's fans are disappointed is that he promised the impossible and — such is the power of his oratory — got people to believe him. Time and again during the campaign, Lexington met voters who were convinced that he would deliver all the goodies on his wish-list without raising taxes on any but the rich. Mr Obama did little to dispel the idea that he could work miracles.

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