In times of tumult, voters are likely to forgive a president, if not reward him, for compromises made in service of solutions.

Obama is capable - as evidenced by his first-term success with health care reform. But mandate-building requires humility, a trait not easily associated with him.

Perhaps we should wait until his second term begins before carving Barack Obama's face in Mount Rushmore. Is that asking too much?

It's an appeal as old as America and its presidency: This is an extraordinary country populated by hard-working, big-dreaming, freedom-loving people graced by God when they're not pulling themselves up by the bootstraps.

A concrete agenda and landslide victory might not even guarantee a president his mandate in a capital as polarized as Washington.

For a man who has compared himself to Theodore Roosevelt and the nation's challenges to those of the Gilded Age, Obama put forward a tepid agenda.

A presidential debate is a job interview. And voters look for certain traits in people applying to be president.