Obama's First 100 Days

I personally think the 100 day mark is kind of ludicrous. It is completely arbitrary. Additionally, even FDR, who made it famous, thought it was kind of a joke. But it has been ingrained in political culture ever since.

Let us first examine Obama's successes (at least, from the White House's point of view):

• Passage of the $787 Billion Stimulus Package
• Passage of $3.6 Trillion Budget
• Completion of the Bank Rescue Plan
• Home Foreclosure plan
• Action plan for GM and Chrysler
• Passage of SCHIP for children's health care
• Plan to scale down Iraq War by August 2010
• Increase surge of troops in Afghanistan
• Opening relations with Cuba, Iran, and Venezuela
• Planned closure of Guantanamo Bay.
• Planned release of torture memos.

For liberals, that is a great start.

Now, let us look at the failures, from a conservatives point of view:

• The almost $800 Billion stimulus package has barely produced a dent in the economy. Less than 2% of that total has been spent at this point, even considering Mr. Obama's proposed 'shovel-ready' projects.
• The $3.6 Trillion Budget also promises to increase the National deficit by $4 Trillion by the end of his first term; in other words, he will spend almost twice as much in four years as Bush 43 did in 8 years. And there appears to be no end in sight.
• The country lost approximately 2.3 million jobs so far in 2009. The stock market is below inaugural levels.
• The bank rescue plan has raised more questions than answers; such as, what to do with the troubled assets? The current plan depends on private investors...and they are hesitant to enter any government program at this time.
• Increase in violence in both Iraq and Afghanistan, with worsening situation in Pakistan.
• North Korea becomes a missile ready nuclear power, without any sanctions.
• Iran approaches nuclear status, without any penalty.
• Disarray in the intelligence sectors because of inconsistencies from the President.
• Failure to roll back earmarks, which he promised.
• More Cabinet nomination failures than any president in modern history.
• I am sure there are many more...the New York Post has an article: '100 days, 100 mistakes' if you are interested.

So this is one of those 'glass half empty/ glass half full' scenarios. Obama has been relatively successful in passage of the programs he targeted. And he has yet to fail to get what he wants from the Democratic Congress.

Yet, he has failed in many respects as well. He came in as the 'post-partisan' President, but that has been an utter disaster. He didn't get virtually any significant Republican support for his major policy initiatives. He has actually increased polarization in the country.

Also, his poll numbers are a mix. Although he remains personally popular, his job approval numbers are on par with past presidents, such as George W. Bush (not the greatest prior example), and far below that of Ronald Reagan. His policies are not all that popular either. Right now, people like him, but are unsure of what he is doing.

Clearly the poll numbers are decent, but not stratospheric. You cannot criticize his popularity; his is still very popular. I have continued to ask the question, are people really supportive of his policies, or just the man that he is? We just don't know. And of course, Democrats will say it is total support of his platfrom, and Republicans will say vice versa. It is somewhat meaningless.

I think overall Mr. Obama has to be happy with the first 3 months. Yeah, he had some blunders, but nothing horrific. It all comes down to his policies. If they work, he will be credited. If they don't, he will be blamed. It is as simple as that.