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The latest CBS/NYT poll is encouraging news for Obama. The public expects a lot of him, but they don't expect it quickly. "Most Americans said they did not expect real progress in improving the economy, reforming the health care system or ending the war in Iraq — three of the central promises of Mr. Obama’s campaign — for at least two years. The poll found that two-thirds of respondents think the recession will last two years or longer."It turns out that when you treat Americans like adults, when you explain the limits of the possible and temper the timeframe of your promises, they respond like adults. Obama's public approval ratings are among the highest for an American president in modern times. But they are not the simple product of the crisis. They are not high because the public childishly expects that Obama can enter office and vanquish our ills. Rather, they're high because he seems to be trying. Because he's appears to be honest about what he can do, and will do, and what it will mean. After the last eight years of aggressive incompetence and cynical obfuscation, that's enough. That's change.