There was a lot of talk leading up to the historic inauguration of a year ago today. Advocates and opponents alike talked of Barack Obama?s grand plans.

A year later, however, like it or not, like him or not, the country hasn’t seen much change from the candidate of change.

Obama’s win truly was historic. And he started out sounding like he wanted to work with everyone. The bitterly partisan president right before him, George W. Bush, also started out talking about cooperation across party lines. That also didn’t happen.

The difference has been that Bush got things done in partisan fashion. Obama hasn’t been able to do the same.

So, with one notable exception — and on the verge of another — we’d say it was a good first year.

The thing is, this has been pretty ineffective one party rule, with Democrats blaming Republicans — who have no power to stop any federal legislation — for being the party of no. …

Obama still has three years — possibly more. His Democratic Congress might not be as bold — if we can use that word to describe its ineptness of the last year — heading into an election. Obama might be able to do more. His first year, historic as it has been, wasn’t much in terms of politics.

The Lima News, Jan. 19