Barack Obama delivering his nomination acceptance speech at Invesco Field in Denver on Aug. 28, 2008. Photo courtesy of Obama for America.

More from Obama’s campaign trail
A year ago Friday, candidate Barack Obama proved he could fill a football stadium with 80,000 cheering supporters.

But as president, Obama has seen his rock star status begin to fade.

In some polls, he’s even slightly less popular now than George W. Bush was at this point in his first term. At town hall meetings on health care, the bulk of the passion seems to come from activists opposed to Obama’s agenda.

It’s a far cry from what many supporters might have expected on Aug. 28, 2008 — the mile-high summit of Obama’s history-making road to the White House.

That night, the young Illinois senator stood on a raised blue platform in front of an elaborately columned backdrop in Denver’s Invesco Field, spoke to the country and accepted his party’s nomination for president.

The iconic images from that speech reflected a campaign that inspired volunteers across the nation. As a candidate, Obama drew on the deep reach of his grass-roots organization, his skill raising money on the Web, and the desire of tens of millions of voters to turn the page on Bush.

Since then, strategists attribute Obama’s declining poll numbers to his decision to quickly confront a series of controversial issues without the benefit of the scapegoat Bush represented in the campaign.

“The Parthenon they built behind Obama has crumbled,” Florida Republican strategist Rick Wilson said.
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