Last year, President Barack Obama delivered his inaugural address outlining his vision for America. A year later, let’s check in on some of those promises he made.

The president had observed, “The state of our economy calls for action: bold and swift.”

One out of two isn’t terrible. The president and Congress moved swiftly by passing the $787 billion stimulus bill last February.  Most serious economists agree that the bill saved jobs and helped avert an economic disaster. But bold?  Not so much. The stimulus fell $300 billion short of the $1 trillion-plus recommended by those same serious economists. Since then, unemployment has surged past 10 percent, foreclosure numbers continue to break records, and there are whispers of a double-dip recession.

Last year, the president also promised to “raise health care’s quality and lower its cost.” This one is a work in progress but, like the stimulus bill, the legislative process has eroded any chance of meaningful reform.  Obama once said a single-payer system would be his ideal choice. Despite this, it was never on the table.  The so-called public option was billed as a single-payer compromise. It was objectionable to conservatives, and by the fall the White House couldn’t distance itself further from the plan. The result? A watered-down bill that earned zero Republican votes in the Senate and one in the House, and its passage is still in doubt.

That brings us to foreign policy. The president had said, “We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals” and promised “to responsibly leave Iraq to its people and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan.”

Obama must be given credit for restoring America’s place in the international community after spending eight years in the diplomatic wilderness.  His speeches in Cairo and Turkey invoked a sense of cooperation. Unfortunately, words mean little. Obama’s continuation of Bush-era tactics such as civilian-killing drone attacks and his decision to escalate the war in Afghanistan can only be described as disappointing.

The president came into office with at least some intention of reforming our government and righting the country, but round one of his presidency went to Washington, D.C. Beltway politics got the better of Mr. Hope in 2009. He did manage to get a few good punches in along the way, and I believe that he can turn things around in the coming year. But if the next three years resemble 2009, perhaps he should consider changing his campaign slogan from “change we can believe in” to “it’s better than nothing.”

Zach Tomanelli is a junior journalism major. E-mail him at ztomane1@ithaca.edu.