President Obama's first year has exposed the clout of corporate interests -- and how easily they can buy support in Congress, particularly the Senate. Obama has challenged the entrenched interests that get in the way of reforms this country desperately needs: the health insurance industry, Big Oil and King Coal, Wall Street, and big corporations (with the proposed Employee Free Choice Act).

President Obama calls on Congress to pass a jobs program immediately, estimating its cost at $100 billion. This nestles the president's program nicely between the program passed by the House in December, totaling about $150 billion, and that being discussed by the Senate, said to be $80 billion and getting smaller by the day.

The state of America's union is stark. The economic collapse triggered by the bursting of the housing bubble continues to take its toll.

The human agony in the wake of the earthquake in Haiti has triggered an international response. Americans across the country have responded by donating millions, often over the Web. The president has dispatched the military to keep order and to create the minimal infrastructure needed to get the aid to those in need. And still the human toll keeps rising.

A rising tide may lift all boats (except, of course, those stuck at the bottom). But, as we learned over the last year, refloating the yachts doesn't create the tide.