[user104658]

I respect Obama as a president if only for recently admitting that the "American Dream" ideology is flawed in the current economy. He basically said that US citizens, since the very beginnings of the US, have had the idea that no matter where you start out in life, you can improve your situation by gritting your teeth and working hard, working your way up the ladder. The American Dream... the white picket fence... the idea that a family could stumble off a boat with a few pennies and the clothes on their backs and built a life. It's an idea that the entire nation has been founded on, and it was once true...

However, he recently admitted that those at the top of the pile now have so much power - and those at the bottom are so disadvantaged, and so at risk of falling into the trappings of insurmountable debt, that the dream is no longer true. That those at the bottom have very little chance of forging a better life, no matter how hard they work, and that society at large should be making sure that provisions are in place to HELP those people to climb out of that life and into a better one.

That alone is a very bold statement in America. It's practically blasphemy, in a country that so strongly believes that "picking yourself up, dusting yourself off, and trucking onwards" is all that it takes to "make it"... that still for the mostpart believes the illusion that achievement in this world is generally based on merit.

So for an American president to see that and admit it, is pretty huge.