"Obama and the art of managing expectations"

Senior campaign adviser David Axelrod. (AP Photo/Brian Kersey)

Chris Cillizza (WaPo):

Obama and Axelrod are clearly engaging in a bit of expectations-management here — for largely strategic reasons. Why?

First and foremost, the tale of Obama’s first three years (or so) in office is that of a failure to meet impossibly high expectations. MORE...

Howie P.S.: Here's how Cilliza finishes his piece:

Expectations, as the Obama team learned over the past few years, are a dangerous thing in politics. Too high and you can’t meet them. Too low and people start believing you can’t change things. Can Obama and his team find an expectations middle ground for 2012?