“They’ve just said no to everything,” adds Frankel, referring to Republican members of Congress. He notes that the disagreement between the political parties extends beyond health care.

Frank questions whether the president was so naive that he believed Republicans would cooperate with Democrats or whether Obama thought that Republicans would cave under public pressure to consider Democratic policies. “Because, right now, people are blaming the Democrats as much as the Republicans.”

Frankel maintains that Obama has made “clear efforts to work bipartisanly...but you need to have a dance partner to dance.”

THE BLACK WHITE HOUSE

The belief that Obama’s critics might be motivated by certain prejudices has inspired some discussion on the effects of having the first black president in the White House.

“On race, I think Obama is more constrained than any white president would be,” writes Law School Professor Michael J. Klarman, a renowned scholar on issues of race and the law.

Given that a number of Americans regard Obama as “the other,” Klarman says that the president seems to be restricted in addressing “some of the racial difficulties facing the  United States today,” as he might be labeled “the president for black people.”

“I think that’s a terrible shame, but I think it’s the political reality,” Klarman says.

As an Illinois state senator in 2004, Obama captivated America with his speech in favor of a nation that is unified—racially and politically.

“There’s not a liberal America and a conservative America; there’s the United States of America. There’s not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there’s the United States of America,” he said at the time.

Since that speech, Obama has attempted to stay away from mediating racially charged disputes, only intervening when directly prompted by critics or the media.

Yet professors agree on the significance of having a black president in the White House.

“I think he has changed the landscape, although it’s too early to begin to see,” Keyssar says.

Obama’s imprint on history will not only rely on his being the first president of color, professors say.

“This a guy who took control of the jetliner when it was in freefall,” Frankel says. “In the first six months, he brought the nose up, and now he’s brought it rising up again.”

“You have to go back to at least to Roosevelt or maybe even Lincoln to find a president who’s taken command with a country in such a set of circumstances and performed so spectacularly,” Frankel adds.

—Staff writer Gautam S. Kumar can be reached at gkumar@college.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Tara W. Merrigan can be reached at tmerrigan@college.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Zoe A. Y. Weinberg can be reached at zoe.weinberg@college.harvard.edu.