Politics: Giving credit where credit is due to President Obama

Am politically center-right but I strive not to be so partisan that I can't give credit when credit is due.

We are entering the second year of the 44th president's term of office, what are some things I think President Obama did well in year one?

(1) President Obama, Secretary Geithner and Fed Chief Bernanke had a tough job in the bank bailouts. From what I have read, they did about as good a job as you could under the circumstances. Government bailouts are generally things you try to avoid but in this case there was probably little option.

(2) Keeping Defense Secretary Gates. It would have been politically the easier thing to do to bring on board someone from your party to take over the Pentagon. However, because the US is engaged in two wars, continuity outweighed political considerations.

(3) Obama could have pulled out of Iraq really fast. He could have thrown in the towel on Afghanistan. The anti-war wing of his party would have wanted that. But the President looked at the situation, talked to the military people, consulted experts on the region and concluded that the two preferred options of his base would not be good for the USA or the region.

(4) His swift action in sending help to assist Haiti in their time of crisis.

(5) Support for basic research to strengthen one of the assets of the US economy.
Disclaimer: my salary is mostly funded by Federal grant money.

(6) After initially bungling the response to the controversy over the arrest of Prof. Gates, his call to have Prof. Gates and Officer Crowley over for a beer was admittedly symbolic and a bit of a photo op but it was the right signal to send. Race as an issue was helped by his election and will only continue to improve as we see each others as individuals and hear each other's stories.