politics

WILLIAMSBURG, IOWA - Pauline McAreavy voted for President Obama. From the moment she first saw him two years ago, she was smitten by his speeches and sold on his promise of change. She switched parties to support him in the Iowa caucuses, donated money and opened her home to two campaign workers.

But by the time she received a fundraising letter last month from the Democratic National Committee, a sense of disappointment had set in. She returned the solicitation with a handwritten note, saying: "Until I see some progress and he lives up to his promises ... we will not give one penny."

"I'm afraid I wasn't realistic," McAreavy, 76, a retired school nurse, said recently at her home in Williamsburg. "I really thought there would be immediate change."

One year after winning the election, Obama has seen his pledge to transcend partisanship give way to the realities of office. A campaign for the history books, filled with a sky-high sense of possibility for Obama not just among legions of Democrats but also from outside the party, has descended to an unfamiliar plateau for a president whose rise was as rapid as it was charmed.

Interviews with voters across Iowa offer a window into how the president's standing has leveled off, especially among the independents and Republicans who contributed not just to his margin of victory in the caucuses there but also to the optimism among his supporters that his election would be a break from standard-issue politics.

McAreavy fears that the president's health care plan will shortchange her Medicare benefits and mean infrequent mammogram examinations. She worries that his decision on Afghanistan will mean that her son, a member of the Iowa National Guard, will return to the battlefield. And she said that she believes that too many of Obama's actions are rooted in Democratic politics.

"All my Republican friends -- and independents -- are sitting back saying, 'Oh, what did we do?' " McAreavy said. "I'm not to that point yet, but a lot of people are."

Obama still has generally strong approval ratings and the opportunities that come with a Democratic majority in Congress. Public opinion about him remains in flux, particularly as he heads into the endgame of a push to overhaul the health insurance system and nears a decision about whether to expand the war in Afghanistan.

But an erosion of support from independents and disapproval from Republicans suggests that the coalition Obama built to win the White House is frayed.

In few places did people get a longer look at Obama than in Iowa, a swing state home to deep strains of both conservatism and liberalism. Obama was a constant presence there during the formative months of his candidacy. Many voters have pictures of him on their mantels, looking him in the eye as they took a measure of the man and the politician before giving him a crucial victory in the caucuses.

A social studies teacher who saw Obama on his maiden visit to Iowa wonders whether momentum from the election is gone forever. A retired electrical engineer who became a Democrat to support Obama says the president too often blames others for his troubles. And a teacher who voted for Obama because she was fed up with President George W. Bush does not trust this administration any more than the previous one.

As a candidate, Obama soared, several people said in interviews, but as a president, he often has come across as cautious, tentative and prone to blame his troubles on others.

"I think he was more presidential when he was running for office than he is now," said Paul Johnson, 58, a student legal services lawyer at Iowa State University. "He seems more subdued, which is probably a result of having to actually deal with the issues on his plate as opposed to just rallying the troops to vote for him."