Again, I find myself frustrated by progressive “disappointment” in Obama, at least as listed in this Newsweek article about how the Netroots have left him.

Maybe the problem is that Obama failed to deliver some things online activists were hoping for. When we wrote our article two years ago, we mentioned a Web site called Change.org, where people could vote on what they wanted Obama to do; the top-rated idea at the time was “Close Guantánamo prison camp.” That hasn’t happened. Obama also hasn’t repealed “don’t ask, don’t tell,” or legalized marijuana, or supported gay marriage, or used the Internet to create a more transparent government—issues the Netroots cared about. And he’s escalated the war in Afghanistan.

On those first two points (Guantánamo and “don’t ask, don’t tell”), online activists have a legitimate grievance, though it seems very possible these changes could still happen. But Obama certainly never promised to legalize marijuana, and always purported to support “traditional” marriage (I suspect his personal views are different, but that was his public face.) I’m not sure what “using the Internet to create a more transparent government” even means. And, again, he campaigned very clearly on the argument that he was going to escalate the war in Afghanistan.

So I’m unclear how either Newsweek or online activists could claim Obama “failed to deliver” on these issues. Aside from the exceptions mentioned above, he delivered exactly what he said he would.