This is not a fun piece to write, and it may not be one that’s enjoyable to read.

If, like me, you’re someone who believes in the hope Barack Obama represents, it’s a drag to think about the ways in which he’s not living up to that promise.

Obviously, one doesn’t want to be aligned with the Fox commentators, Tea Party fanatics, town-hall lunatics, out-and-out racists and Internet disinformation dispensers.

As we’ve frequently been reminded, he’s only been in office for a year. If this were a football game, it would still be the first quarter. Unfortunately, it looks like his team is getting licked, and it may be past time to look at some of the reasons why.

Those of us who are Democrats are experienced rationalizers of presidential weaknesses. It took some degree of practice to get through the Clinton years, though Bill helped us through those living-room debates with his own skill at changing the subject.

And the country was better off. Not great, not close to getting our most urgent problems fixed, but prosperous, at least relatively, and on a domestic and international course in which we could take some satisfaction.

THUS FAR, AS PRESIDENT, OBAMA IS A HELL OF A CANDIDATE.

Obama ran not only against Bush’s legacy, but also against Clinton’s, promising an end to scandal, which he’s lived up to, and to divisiveness, which has proven to be a harder problem to magically resolve. Under the circumstances, he might have been better served by treating the only two-term Democratic presidency since FDR’s with a modicum of respect.

There’s always been a split within Democrats between aloof leaders like Eugene McCarthy, John Kerry and Michael Dukakis and politicians who, whatever their personal background, were able to connect more directly not just with blue state voters – academics, yuppies and the like – but so-called “ordinary Americans.’’ That was the great appeal of Robert Kennedy, who was able to keep the faith with the party but also forge some kind of emotional connection with “Wallace Democrats,” the people who later defected to Reagan and Bush. Clinton was able to bridge that gap, too, and although Hillary was hard-pressed to match her husband’s populist touch, she demonstrated late in her campaign the ability to show down-and-out voters in swing states like Ohio and Pennsylvania that she felt their pain.

Demonized on the left because of her votes for the Iraq War and – let’s face it – her gender, she was fighting at the wrong time against a charismatic figure who’d managed to catch the wind. But the problems haven’t gone away.

The jury is still out, and he’s just one man, but thus far, as president, Obama is a hell of a candidate.

He still gives the best speech in town. He and his family are enormously attractive, articulate and able to convince the people already on his side. The problem is the other half of the country – not to mention the Republican minority gumming up the works.

The unemployment rate in Monterey County rose to 16.7 percent in December. People are out of work, out of luck, and running out of patience.

I think Obama was dead right to pursue health care reform. I also agree with his own analysis that he hasn’t explained it well. For all his eloquence, he hasn’t been able to connect the dots on the economic savings of fixing the system, rather than just the moral necessity of doing so.

And the time spent on health care should have been coupled with a real program to put Americans back to work. We need jobs in the public sector, above and beyond what’s already been allotted through the stimulus program; and jobs in the private sector, rewarding public-private partnerships and entrepreneurship.

Obama could have used the enormous goodwill at the time of his election to make things happen, not simply stanch the bleeding from the Bush-era blunders.

His reincarnation as a born-again populist, taking on Wall Street “fat cats” and the banks, is an unconvincing performance. It would be nice to see these bastards held to account, but that won’t give us more skin in the game unless it’s accompanied by job growth far exceeding the 2 million Obama claims credit for.

Taking on the lobbyists is a side skirmish when people are trying to put food on their tables.

I’m not faulting Obama for failing to live up to the hopes of progressives. He can certainly be faulted on that score, but to be fair, he never really campaigned as a liberal, though he was happy to get their support. I’m faulting him for failing to lead. He needs to stop preaching to the choir, and get more people into the church.

It’s a hard job, but not an impossible one.

Three quarters to go.

Paul Wilner is the editor of Monterey County Weekly.