Mark Halperin puts it this way:
The country took a risk on Barack Obama, he was untested. And if you look at what Hillary Clinton and John McCain both said about him, they said, "He's just words. He doesn't know how to run the government." I think, ironically, it's just the opposite. He's done, I think, an extraordinary job running the government, as John said, under difficult circumstances.
He managed the economic crisis and kept the world from going into a depression. He staffed the government with very quality, quality people. He showed he could be commander-in-chief and manage these two difficult wars. What I think, ironically, the problem has been is he's not inspired the country to feel a sense of optimism and renewal and to be unified in a bipartisan way. Those are the things I think people thought he would excel at. Those are, I think, are the problems. He's making progress in governance, not necessarily in that bully pulpit leadership.