1) First African American/"Minority" President
2) President after George W. Bush and before _____________.

Recognize the man as the sitting President. Discuss his plans and policies. Recognize that he is the first American President who isn't apparently wholly "white". But beyond any of that, what has he accomplished that makes him worthy of praise of any kind?

So far, I've seen him backpedal on a lot of his promises, as all politicians do, after realizing (assuming he didn't know in advance and lie) that politics just doesn't work the way his idealistic voters want them to. He has made some attempts to enact various policies, but he has also made a habit of reverting to the same petty idealogical and party bickering that every other politician does.

His supporters and the media made him out to be a rock star before he was elected, and he was never going to live up to that, but he's not done anything that will get bullet-pointed in a history textbook yet, that I'm aware of, so people should just lay off the hero worship. Likewise, those who don't like him should lay off the hate a little bit and stick to rational arguments, of which plenty can readily be made.