A year later, being president harder than it looks

US President Barack Obama speaks about the election in Afghanistan before departing the White House on August 21, 2009 in Washington, DC. The President and his family are traveling to Camp David and are scheduled to vacation at Martha's Vineyard next week. (Mark Wilson, Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (AP) — It's been a year since President Barack Obama was elected and it hasn't been an easy one.

It wasn't just his election as America's first black president, it was his promise of a new, post-partisan Washington. That has proven easier to imagine than accomplish.

Press Secretary Robert Gibbs notes that change is more difficult when special interests get involved.

But Obama's critics answer by saying the president must share some blame for persistent partisanship, having governed less as the centrist that he seemed than an old-style liberal.

Obama's sky-high approval ratings during his early weeks have run up against the realities of two wars and a health care fight that has gotten tougher and nastier than the president's team expected.

Polls also indicate that Americans are not giving Obama much of the credit for a slowly improving economy.

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