As exchanges between politicians and voters go, what happened at CNBC's "Town Hall Discussion on Jobs" earlier this week was a doozy.

Velma Hart, the chief financial officer of AMVETS, representing American veterans, pierced President Obama's cool veneer with an expression of polite exasperation that will haunt him long beyond the midterm elections.

The fact that Ms. Hart is also African-American makes her critique -- the transcript of which follows -- all the more poignant. In theory, she represents the part of his base that is rumored to be the least critical of his performance.

HART: I am chief financial officer for a veterans service organization, AMVETS, here in Washington. I'm also a mother, I'm a wife, I'm an American veteran, and I'm one of your middle-class Americans. And quite frankly, I'm exhausted. I'm exhausted of defending you, defending your administration, defending the mantle of change that I voted for --

OBAMA: Right.

HART: -- and deeply disappointed with where we are right now. I have been told that I voted for a man who said he was going to change things in a meaningful way for the middle class. I'm one of those people, and I'm waiting, sir. I'm waiting. I don't feel it yet. And I thought, while it wouldn't be in great measure, I would feel it in some small measure.

I have two children in private school. And the financial recession has taken an enormous toll on my family. My husband and I joked for years that we thought we were well beyond the hot dogs and beans era of our lives.

OBAMA: Right.

HART: But quite frankly, it's starting to knock on our door and ring true that that might be where we're headed again. And quite frankly, Mr. President, I need you to answer this honestly: Is this my new reality?

It goes without saying that this exchange has been nothing less than catnip for Mr. Obama's critics. Expect to see excerpts in Republican congressional attack ads. Ms. Hart, who reiterated her support for the president in an interview on CNN hours later, has become the symbol of disenchanted Obama voters.

Though Ms. Hart's sense of malaise may be personally disappointing for Mr. Obama, it wouldn't be rational to equate that feeling with abandonment of the president or his party. She and millions like her will turn out on Nov. 2 to vote their interests, even if it's with a sigh instead of a skip in their step.

I can relate to Ms. Hart's angst, if not her specific complaint. Still, I wouldn't have the nerve, if I were her, to suggest that my family was flirting with a return to the "hot dogs and beans era" after admitting that I had two daughters in private school. That's a little too much cognitive dissonance, even for a Democrat.

I'm not saying she doesn't have a legitimate complaint about the gulf between Mr. Obama's campaign rhetoric and his accomplishments, but I'm not ready to make the Harts the poster family of the recession just yet.

Having said that, I know exactly where she's coming from. Mr. Obama set the bar very high with his peerless eloquence during the campaign. He made bold promises and raised expectations in attracting millions of people who didn't typically go to the polls on election day. Mr. Obama also promised to govern with unprecedented transparency. That hasn't happened.

I understand that the cold-knuckle reality of politics and the obstructionism of the GOP have made the fulfillment of many of his promises impossible, but there is no excuse for his administration's unwillingness to come clean with the American people about everything. Many of the same corporate and Wall Street interests that had carte blanche under presidents Bush and Clinton are still running the show.

As much as Mr. Obama would want us to forget it, his initial appeal was based upon a promise that he would be both a visionary and a pragmatist. To be fair, his administration has accomplished a lot, but each victory -- such as health care -- has cost him dearly. His governing majority never took its mandate seriously and now stands poised to take a historic drubbing in the midterm election unless the so-called "enthusiasm gap" with Republicans can be bridged in the next few weeks.

Mr. Obama can turn everything around in the next two years if he takes the Velma Harts of this country seriously. The honeymoon may be over, but it is never too late for a mature romance.

Tony Norman's weekly video, the Last Word, is featured exclusively in the Insight section on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.