Grading Obama at 100 days

Let me also jump on the 100 days bandwagon even though the White House has called this a "Hallmark holiday," they themselves seem to be readying for it with a prime time news conference scheduled for Wednesday night preceded by a town-hall meeting with the President in St. Louis. The 100 days mark also matters because it allows us to gauge what kind of President Obama promises to be. This is how I would grade him--you are welcome to chime in.

Economy: A-
In the first 100 days he has passed the biggest stimulus bill in the American history and the stimulus is already having affects. Just yesterday, the NYT reported that the people in the small economically depressed Indiana town Anderson are feeling more optimistic about the overall economy, and the city's mayor can begin many reconstruction projects. Our own university budget is not being rescinded 3% (a standard operating procedure during the disastrous Blago tenure), but it is actually being increased 1%. The reason I would give him a - is because the stimulus was stripped of considerable punch by the so-called "moderate Republicans," and the President necessarily had to go along with this. At the same time, however, the plan to fix the housing market seems to be working: the home sales are up, the cost of refinancing mortgages is at its historic low and has triggered a flood of refinancing and seems to have slowed the rate of foreclosures. Further, Giethner's long-criticized plan to save the banking system also seems to be working: Wells Fargo posted its best profit last month and many banks seem to be doing much better. The rallying of the Wall Street in the past few weeks suggest that we at long last may have reached the bottom of the recession.


Foreign Policy: B
Obama has drastically shifted gears from the horrors of the previous administration. He has followed through on his campaign promise to do more listening than talking in the world, to talk to our enemies, and to be more respectful of other points of view. Our relationship with both Cuba and Venezuela seems to be thawing: there are major discussions in the works between the US and Cuba and Hugo Chavez is going to send the Venezuelan ambassador to the US. Obama's popularity in the world, particularly in Europe, has done wonders for our relations. His performance on the world stage has been superb. However, I am very worried about his decision to escalate the fighting in Afghanistan: it seems that Afghanistan is becoming his Iraq and I just can't see what good can come out of it. At the same time, Iraq is almost destined to spiral down into violence once we leave: already the violence is ratcheting up as Maliki is becoming increasingly sectarian, provoking a reaction from the disaffected Sunni exiles who are funding the insurgency. In short, the Iraq quagmire remains just that: a horrible quagmire out of which I see no exit.

Changing America's image in the world: A+
I really think Obama has done a superb job on changing the image of our country in the world. On the second day in office, Obama banned all "enhanced interrogation" techniques (read: torture) that the Bush administration had used with impunity; he has ordered the closing of Guantanamo, and has re-instituted the rule of the Geneva Conventions in our treatment of detainees. His performance on the world stage (as I said above) has been nothing short of superb and he has followed through on every single campaign promise in terms of changing America's image in the world.

Restoring the Constitution: C
I am afraid this is where he gets lowest marks from me. While he did change the direction of our country, Obama has also been lukewarm at best and politically cowardly at worst in reversing the serious damage the Bush administration had done to our Constitution. In particular, he has been very disappointing with restoring the habeaus corpus to detainees, arguing that those at the Bagram prison in Afghanistan do not have the right to due process that our Constitution guarantees. Further, his continuing defense of the wiretapping program that he voted for while a candidate is really worrisome. He needs to completely restore the habeus corpus to everyone and outlaw warantless wiretapping. Finally, probably the most worrisome thing about his restoration of the Constitution has been his lukewarm support for holding the torturers-in-chief accountable for their grave violations of our laws. His support for a "bipartisan Commission" is a transparent political ploy to push the issue out of the White House. He needs to step back and allow Eric Holder of the Justice Dept to appoint a Special Prosecutor who will investigate these potential war crimes. Obama's mantra that he is interested in "looking forward, not looking backward" drives me nuts because it doesn't mean anything! Looking forward is impossible without looking backward because it would mean that the words in our laws and our Constitution mean nothing and can be violated at will.

Restoring America's confidence: A+
This is another area where he gets the highest marks. The polls show the country is generally optimistic about the direction we are taking (compared to only 28% who thought we were going in the right direction during the last thralls of the Bush regime). Obama's approval rating stands at the historic high of 69%, which is higher than Reagan's at this time, and all of his predecessors, with the exception of Eisenhower. This morning the NYT also reported that Obama is changing the perception of race relations in this country with more than half seeing the conditions of race relations improved and the number of black Americans who think so has nearly doubled since July! The mood of the country is extremely important not just for our economy, but for the very soul of our country. What is particularly a positive development of Obama's young presidency is the shift in the public perception of the role of government in our lives. People increasingly view the government as the solution and not as the problem (as Reagan idiotically claimed!). Obama's budget priorities coupled with the stimulus are making the government cool again. This might give Obama the necessary public support to push through the long overdue health care reform and move the country to the left.

So for the most part, Obama has kept his campaign promises. His personal favoribility ratings are also at a historic high: 74% and Michelle Obama's are 85%! The image of the first family in the White House has also done wonders for America's image in the world.