Grading a president is best done from a perspective 20 to 40 years after the end of his term of service. And President Obama will, as all presidents, be graded by historians both for his failures and his accomplishments.

However, as a progressive, I would offer a much shorter term performance analysis for this President with the hope that his next two years in office can better define his contribution to the nation.

First, the negatives.

As a communicator this president is a great college professor. President Obama is sometimes aloof, always thoughtful, but never quite passionate and absolutely never unreservedly angry. But presidents need to speak with passion, and present anger in the face of justifiable conviction.

He would serve us better showing more conviction and less understanding of those he believes to be wrong on the issues of the day.

In terms of policy, this president has found that all things are not possible. While certainly true, it is not a quality a great leader should source often. It has been impossible to close Gitmo, though he promised to do so. It has been impossible to get out of both Iraq and Afghanistan, though a majority of Americans think it is time to do both.

It has been impossible to restore the broken economy in two years, and voters have made it clear he is being judged for that reality.

And of course, in seeking to stimulate the economy he turned away from fiscal restraint in others areas of the government, where cuts could have been made even while funding the stimulus.

In political ethics, his administration has been relatively free of appointment flaws after a troubling initial start. But ending torture, a promise of candidate Obama, may not have been accomplished since the policies of renditions have not been absolutely refuted. Renditions transfer prisoners to countries more willing to torture than the U.S.

In terms of pragmatics, President Obama should have realized that constructing complex policy like health care in public, with a year of debate, would appear as chaos.

He should have recognized that continuing any form of “No Child Left Behind” would leave our students behind. And he certainly should have stopped any attempt to work with Republicans after they promised they would not work with him. Far too much time was lost seeking agreement where no agreement was possible.

On the positive side:

For 100 years the nation has sought major health care reform. That accomplishment had eluded all our presidents regardless of their political power or electoral strength.

President Obama made this happen and is to be commended for what will be a good start, not an end to reform.

He improved the GI bill significantly. He used the stimulus to grant 95 percent of Americans a tax cut. He improved the federal student loan program while saving $61 billion in federal costs. He passed the Lilly Ledbetter Act, improving pay equality for women. He presided over banking reform to prevent another banking crisis.

The president re-opened stem cell research sources. He reformed credit card policies used to abuse consumers.

Obama expanded health care coverage for children of working parents through S-CHIP’s. He nominated the first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice. And he forged an agreement with Russia, now awaiting Senate approval, to further reduce nuclear arms.

Presidents cannot be judged by their first half term, as so many have struggled, and then two years later, won popular re-election.

So this presidency could be so far marked as “incomplete” with the hope by all Americans, that he represents the nation well in the next two years.

Make us proud, Mr. President.

Jim Crawford is a contributing columnist for The Tribune and a former educator at Ohio University Southern.