It’s been a year since a healthy majority of American voters elected Barack Obama to change the world. Which is precisely what he’s doing.

Like many people who desperately want to see the country take a more progressive course, I quibble and quarrel with some of President Obama’s actions. But he’s a president, not a Hollywood action hero. Most of my frustration is really with the process of getting anything done in Washington, which is not something Obama can unilaterally change, nimbly circumvent or blithely ignore.

His biggest accomplishment has been keeping the worst financial and economic crisis in decades from turning into another Great Depression. Yes, the $787 billion stimulus package was messy, but most economists believe it was absolutely necessary — and some believe it should have been even bigger.

But the actions convinced the financial markets that the White House would do anything to avoid a complete meltdown. The economy grew at a rate of 3.5 percent in the third quarter and, while unemployment may not have peaked, the odds of a strong and fairly swift recovery have greatly improved. Responding required creating an enormous fiscal deficit. But not even the most conservative economists recommend attacking the deficit before the economy is stabilized on a path of growth.

On national security, Obama moved at once to categorically renounce torture — a big step toward removing the ugly stain that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney left on our national honor. It looks as if Obama will miss his one-year deadline for closing Guantanamo prison, but a delay of a few weeks or months will be worth it. At least the administration is on schedule in withdrawing troops from Iraq. I don’t think Obama knows the answer on Afghanistan; I’m not sure anybody does.

Obama’s months in office have been so action-packed that it’s easy to forget some of the historic steps he has taken. Nominating Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic, to the Supreme Court. Going to Egypt and speaking directly to the Muslim world about cooperation rather than conflict. Embracing multilateralism as the template for U.S. foreign policy in the new century. Investing in “green” jobs and education reform as key engines of economic development.

I’ve been impatient with Obama’s strategy of letting Congress take the lead on writing health-care legislation, but he’s brought us to the brink of truly meaningful reform much faster than anyone could have imagined a year ago.

Quite a record for 287 days: All that, and a Nobel Peace Prize, too.