Watching a good man fail: Obama, what art though doing?

There is a theory in gestalt psychology called point-counter-point, which describes how occasions, attitudes, movements arise in response to past occasions, in their attemp to correct, and often over compensate for what has been.
Recently, Obama disappointed many regarding the past administration's torture related activities (Kieth Olberman on Obama vid), as he spoke of foregiveness, and seeking solutions by moving beyond the past, and beyond finger pointing and blaming. This attitude has served Obama greatly in uniting many of the bifurcating elements of American society, but in this particular case, I agree with Olberman that it is a poor approach, and fails to address the mistakes our country has made, mistakes which the world has been watching.
Of greater concern to me, however are the growing number of critical opinions regarding his economic plans; (Yes! Magazine, Washington Monthly, Huffington Post).
I have supported Obama from his first running, and frankly I was surprised he chose to run this election, thinking he would wait another term due to his age and connections. In so many regards, I could not be happier that he is in office. Barack is one of the best orators I have ever heard, having an almost mystical quality to win over people with his eloquent speeches and felt sentiment. Those are exactly the same reasons that it is tragic to see such a man falling short. I want him to win on all accounts, I want him to shine for us all, but alas, it is a time when even a great leading light shows us our own human frailty and disappointments write large. There is much good he is doing, and in response to the previous administration, Obama is a revolutionary and a beacon of change with his emphasis on education, on the working class, on energy concerns and the environment. Still, all this may mean little if he remains fixed to solutions within the old system, organizing deck chairs on the Titanic.
There are reformers, and there are revolutionaries. Reformers want to fix it, and revolutionaries wish to tear it down and start afresh from ground. Obama is a noble reformer, a great beacon of hope within a society on the brink, whereas perhaps Bukowski is the grimmest example of the revolutionary, wishing for the fall. A reformer must be diplomatic, must have a good relationship to the current powers, but if he is to offer renewal for a system, he must also be able to rise far enough beyond the current paradigm of thought to solve its defects, and it is here that Barack is being tested.
Only time will tell what tale is told tomorrow, and which voice tells it. In the mean time, tell me what you think.

"Here lies a toppled god, his fall was not a small one. We, who built his pedestal, a narrow and a tall one".
- Frank Herbert

"To be great is to be misunderstood."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson