I understand why some of Obama’s supports feel frustrated with the current state of the union. After eight years of bad policy and wondering if the pain would ever end, the 2008 election created renewed hope for good progressive change. But President Obama walked into the biggest economic storm in decades, and too many of the issues that deserve the President’s attention (and probably would have gotten it in better times) have been pushed to the back burner. For what it’s worth, here are a few thoughts on some of the issues important to me and thoughts on how the President has handled them:

College Affordability (Grade: B) - As I noted a few months ago, President Obama has made a number of accomplishments on this issue, including expanding government Pell Grants and offering more opportunities for young people to earn money for college. He also signaled a commitment to community colleges as affordable alternatives to four-year universities. Even so, there is still a lot of work to do. President Obama should embrace the suggestion’s put forth by Campus Progress’s Students Over Banks project, including bigger grants, making loans directly to students, and ending the profitable subsidies and guarantees to major banks.

Urban Policy (Grade: C-) - The political landscape hasn’t really been favorable to candidates from cities in the past few election cycles. The population in suburbs has been growing at a rapid clip, and urban voters tend to heavily lean Democratic anyway, leaving politicians to make promises to the “swing voters” outside of America’s cities. Barack Obama was the ideal urban candidate during the election. His pledge to create a White House Office of Urban affairs gave hope that he might be serious about improving America’s cities and after months in office, he finally made good on the promise. Nevertheless, there is still tons of work to be done.

Transportation Policy (Grade: B+) - Despite concerns over Ray LaHood being little more than the token Republican appointment in the President’s cabinet, the new Transportation Secretary deserves praise for pushing for a progressive transportation agenda. The President also unveiled his plan for a national high-speed-rail network and committed a few billion dollars to the cause. Although implementing high-speed rail on a large scale will require much more, it is encouraging to see that the President supports it. Unfortunately, many urban transit systems are badly struggling, and the federal government should take a more pro-active role to support those systems.

Energy Policy (Grade: C) - It was only one year ago that $100+ oil prices and $4+ gasoline prices looked like a major threat to the global economy and U.S. prosperity. A year later the issue seems less pressing but still matters. Obama has been investing political capital in cap-and-trade policy, but it’s future is still questionable, as is its ability to be particularly effective. With all the talk of improving our economy, it’s worth considering that inflation-adjusted oil prices are still expensive by historical standards and as the economy picks up steam, they are likely to make true recovery difficult. Unfortunately, there seems to be little in place to prevent another summer like that of 2008.

It’s been a pleasure blogging alongside with the other great voices of Generation O. Thanks to Newsweek for organizing everything and especially to Aku, our wonderful editor, for keeping everything running smoothly. If you’d like to continue following along with me, please visit my blog, Extraordinary Observations, a journal of progressive politics, economics, and urbanism. And don’t forget to subscribe to the feed!

-Rob