Obama plus One: A score card
Everybody's having a crack at analyzing President Barack Obama's first year in office, so I'll take my shot, too. Here are my 10 top take-aways.
1. It turns out, he's patient. A year in, Mr. Obama seems comfortable hitting singles and doubles. Frustrating to supporters and critics alike. His allies want some home runs; his enemies want some strike outs. So far, it's just steady progress on his agenda.
2. He's spending a crazy amount of money. Mr. Obama has promised to pivot at what he views as the proper moment and begin reigning in the budget deficit. I generally buy the idea that we needed a huge cash infusion to stave off a full-scale depression. But so far his arguments about how and when to reign in the debt aren't very convincing.
3. He's not a socialist. That stuff's so ridiculous that it's boring. Yes, President Obama believes in a certain amount of regulation and a much beefier social safety net. It's fine to oppose those things on ideological grounds -- or because you think they're too costly. But they don't amount to socialism.
4. He's not willing to be dragged into the culture-war pitfalls that crippled Presidents Clinton and Bush. It seems he'll get to Don't Ask-Don't Tell and Immigration when it suits his agenda, not before.
5. He learned a lot from President Bush about how to ignore and manipulate the national media. That feud with Fox News? How can the White House lose controlling the conversation like that? And when they stumble into an issue that's not so friendly (say, painful political losses in New Jersey and Virginia) the Administration just squares up and marches on.
6. The biggest thing Mr. Obama carried over from the campaign is the no-fluster offense. Unflappability freaks Washingtonians out in the age of Glenn Beck's tears and Keith Olbermann's nightly indignation. It's hard to beat someone who just keeps whacking those singles.
7. I think maybe he's completely on the up-and-up in his private life. Democrats will live forever in fear of Kennedy-Hart-Clinton-Edwards Syndrome, which has derailed more progressive agendas than Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan combined. But it seems that Mr. Obama is avoiding that trap.
8. So far, so good on the economy. I know, plenty still to complain about. We want more justice, more prosperity. But we were teetering on the edge of a cliff. Now, it seems, we're not. That's probably good enough for Year One, right?
9. He still needs a home run. Singles are great, but hey: He's the one who created all these expectations. So what'll it be? Health care? Immigration? Ending the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq? All of the above?
10. Last but not least, he's still benefiting from Republican bungling. New Jersey and Virginia may be evidence of a revival. But I think NY-23 is more symptomatic of where the party's at right now. As long as conservatives and moderates in the GOP are mugging each other, Mr. Obama has only one thing to worry about...his own straying Democrats.
So there's my take. What do you think? A good year for the President? A bad year? Has he saved us from Depression? Pushed us toward insolvency?
Post away...
Labels: election09
posted by Brian Mann @ 11/04/2009 01:25:00 PM
17 Comments
17 Comments:
Obama is doing ok. He has come into an incredibly difficult situation. I worry people will expect too much too soon. What happened in the first 6 years of the Bush Administration will take decades to correct. I believe he is a good and decent man. As for deficits, as worrisome as they are, I don't think he has had a choice but spend the money. That is why I wish Bush 43 had maintained the surpluses he was left with...save during 7 years of plenty for the 7 years of plenty.
I think Obama is doing all right too. I was watching interviews with people in Indonesia the other night and they all seemed to be saying that, since Obama took office, the terrorism in their country has dropped off. There is no longer a Bush to rail against and Obama seems to understand how their people think. They believe he has brought dignity to the White House and respect for other cultures.
Now Obama is stopping terrorism around the world! Wow! I'm shocked! Think they may have found a different ground? Are you telling me that terrorist don't hate us now? Tell that to our soldiers in Afghanistan.
I'll echo the doing okay line. How soon people forget that it was the Bush administration that ran up more debt than any other in history, twiddled its thumbs while AIG & company ran the country into a hole and then set up the initial 800 billion bailout. A cool head and a steady hand will do more for our long term recovery than some knee jerk response. Yes, I'd rather we weren't going so far into debt but the alternative was worse and people should remember that the budget was in surplus before "W".
When will people realize that our economy was set on a path to destruction back in the '70's? George Bush didn't destroy the economy in 8 years. All the extortion of the banks starting in the '70's forced them to give money to people who didn't deserve it and create subprime loans, which lead to higher demand for houses, which led to higher prices on houses, which lead to tens of thousands of bad loans, which led to defaults which led to where we are today. Banks were legally extorted by groups like ACORN to give money to inner cities even though the risk was through the roof. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae (government oversight) bought trillions of these bad loans and took huge losses and the government had to prop them up. There is as much or more blame on Barney Frank and Chris Dodd and Democrats (the so-called over seers) as it is on Bush. It's time for people to get their heads out of their collective arses and actually look at the facts. An economy our size doesn't fall like it did in a short time frame.
I'm in the camp that feels President Obama's doing the best he can, given the mess he stepped into. Of course he's not perfect, he's a politician! And it surprises me how often I hear critics asking "Why hasn't Obama... (fill in the blank) yet?!? Certain problems take some effort by others than the US Prez. to resolve.
I agree that he's been spending a heck of a lot of money - and hearing the numbers quoted on the National Debt and the Federal Deficit send shivers up my spine. But it seems those numbers are completely flexible year to year - after all, I seem to remember moans and groans about the debt and deficit holes we were in during the Reagan Administration, but we managed to get up to positive numbers by the Clinton years... If the Obama administration - and congress - change the debt course as the economy stabilizes, we might even see our predicted numbers looking really favorable in our lifetimes!
There's always hope, at least...
Tom Friedman had a column within the week in which he said that Obama needs a narrative, an overarching, unifying theme to which particular proposals relate.
I agree. Obama, and the country, would benefit if he set forth a vision to inform and animate his agenda.
I think there is plenty of blame to go around on both sides of the aisle. It seems to be a function of our form of government (or maybe just because we're human)that the most important thing once elected is to do everything possible just to get reelected. I kind of admire Mayor Mike in NYC but it was obscene the amount of money spent on that race. I also have a problem with blind party loyalty. Very few elected get much more than 50% of the vote and lets face it, you're also representing the people who supported your opponent. To answer the question in the original post, I also think the President is doing the best he can but I'm also starting to wonder about some of the claims he made during the election and how much of our children's future he is spending.
The President has also gone a long way in improving the opinion of our country overseas, very important in this global economy.
I have a hard time feeling sorry for the big banks. They made some pretty obscene profits before the real estate boom popped. Not every financial institution went this route and the ones the stayed with tried and true lending methods like credit unions and community banks are still doing well. As long as we continue to reward stupid risk with big money people will get hurt.
Two questions...
How about making way for more political parties. I'd like to belong to one that is financially conservative but socially liberal.
Also, anyone else out there think that President Obama should get a new spokesman... Gibbs just rubs me the wrong way.
His first year? I thought this was November? Must work like Obamas 58 States gaff, eh?
Lets see- he's made a laughing stock out of himself numerous times, but so did Bush. He still hasn't released the documentation of his past, but Bush released stuff no one ever thought he could find and proved his detractors liars. He hasn't started any wars yet, but he hasn't ended any either. He's signed off on spending more money than every US President combined in history, yet the economy is still in a shambles, probably due to the fact he signed off on spending all that money. The dollar continues to plummet, the world still hates us, the future looks pretty bleak.
His staff/advisors are made up of criminals, terrorists, Marxist/Socialist radicals and SEIU thugs. His Sec State just announced the CFR tells her how to think. I expect any day now Loose Lips Biden will let us know what the Trilateral Commission told him to have for breakfast.
He's disenfranchised hundreds of thousands of stockholders and turned an auto maker over to a Union, forced banks to accept bailout money they didn't need, and has overseen the failure of dozens of lending institutions. His Sec Treas and the Fed Chair seem to have some real problems interpreting big numbers with lots and lots of zeroes after them, and he's gone crazy appointing Czars that are either criminals, unqualified or otherwise bear some serious watching...but they answer to no one, so who's to watch them?
Meanwhile he's gungho for "Cap and Trade" and has stated that he intends to make purchasing electricity "hurt", seems quite at ease with the idea of the end of the secret ballot ("Card Check"), has no qualms about forming a "World Gov't" and signing away American National Sovereignty.
All this in 9 months. Huh, you guys might be right. If his aim is turning us into a 3rd world country, he's doing GREAT!!!
When someone alleges Obama "hasn't released the documentation about his past" as Dorothy Parker once said, "gentle reader frowed up."
There are intelligent reasons to oppose Obama but conservatives can't seem to find them
Someone please explain to me why it was perfectly fine, necessary in fact, for Bush to be hounded for years about his service record but it's entirely unreasonable for anyone to ask Obama to release any records pertaining to his citizenship? All you libs tore into Bush about things, so think about this-
If George W. Bush had been the first President to need a teleprompter installed to be able to get through a press conference, would you have laughed and said this is more proof of how he inept he is on his own and is really controlled by smarter men behind the scenes?
If George W. Bush had been so Spanish illiterate as to refer to "Cinco de Cuatro" in front of the Mexican ambassador when it was the 5th of May (Cinco de Mayo), and continued to flub it when he tried again, would you have winced in embarrassment?
If George W. Bush had misspelled the word "advice" (advise) would you have hammered him for it for years like Dan Quayle and “potatoe” as proof of what a dunce he is?
If George W. Bush had claimed he campaigned in “all 58 states”, would you have dismissed it as a slip of the tongue?
If George W. Bush had visited Austria and made reference to the non-existent "Austrian language," (they speak German) would you have brushed it off as a minor slip?
If George W. Bush had burned 9,000 gallons of jet fuel to go plant a single tree on Earth Day, would you have concluded he's a hypocrite?
If George W. Bush had made a joke at the expense of the Special Olympics (saying he bowled so bad it was like he was in the Special Olympics), would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had given UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown a set of inexpensive and incorrectly formatted DVDs, when Gordon Brown had given him a thoughtful and historically significant gift, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had given the Queen of England an iPod containing videos of his speeches, would you have thought this embarrassingly narcissistic and tacky?
If George W. Bush had failed to send relief aid to flood victims throughout the Midwest with more people killed or made homeless than in New Orleans, would you want it made into a major ongoing political issue with claims of racism and incompetence?
If George W. Bush had spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to take Laura Bush to a play in NYC, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had reduced your retirement plan's holdings of GM stock by 90% and given the unions a majority stake in GM, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush jetted a chef in from St. Louis at taxpayer expense to make his favorite pizza at the White House, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had filled his cabinet and circle of advisers with people who cannot seem to keep current in their income taxes, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush's administration had okayed Air Force One flying low over millions of people followed by a jet fighter in downtown Manhattan causing widespread panic, would you have wondered whether they actually get what happened on 9-11?
If George W. Bush had bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia , would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had created the position of 32 Czars who report directly to him, bypassing the House and Senate on much of what is happening in America, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had ordered the firing of the CEO of a major corporation, even though he had no constitutional authority to do so, would you have approved?
If George W Bush had proposed to double the national debt, which had taken more than two centuries to accumulate, in one year, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had then proposed to double the debt again within 10 years, would you have approved?
So, tell me again, what is it about Obama that makes him so brilliant and impressive?
I couldn't let the Great Stimulus go unnoticed. Here' some great examples of how Obama has ended pork and inefficient spending at our hour of need-
After a flurry of stimulus spending, questionable projects pile up
By: Susan Ferrechio
Chief Congressional Correspondent
November 3, 2009
The $787 billion stimulus bill was passed in February and was promised as a job saver and economy booster. Here is where some of the money went:
- $300,000 for a GPS-equipped helicopter to hunt for radioactive rabbit droppings at the Hanford nuclear reservation in Washington state.
- $30 million for a spring training baseball complex for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies.
- $11 million for Microsoft to build a bridge connecting its two headquarter campuses in Redmond, Wash., which are separated by a highway.
- $430,000 to repair a bridge in Iowa County, Wis., that carries 10 or fewer cars per day.
- $800,000 for the John Murtha Airport in Johnstown, Pa., serving about 20 passengers per day, to build a backup runway.
- $219,000 for Syracuse University to study the sex lives of freshmen women.
- $2.3 million for the U.S. Forest Service to rear large numbers of arthropods, including the Asian longhorned beetle, the nun moth and the woolly adelgid.
- $3.4 million for a 13-foot tunnel for turtles and other wildlife attempting to cross U.S. 27 in Lake Jackson, Fla.
- $1.15 million to install a guardrail for a persistently dry lake bed in Guymon, Okla.
- $9.38 million to renovate a century-old train depot in Lancaster County, Pa., that has not been used for three decades.
- $2.5 million in stimulus checks sent to the deceased.
- $6 million for a snow-making facility in Duluth, Minn.
- $173,834 to weatherize eight pickup trucks in Madison County, Ill.
- $20,000 for a fish sperm freezer at the Gavins Point National Fish Hatchery in South Dakota.
- $380,000 to spay and neuter pets in Wichita, Kan.
- $300 apiece for thousands of signs at road construction sites across the country announcing that the projects are funded by stimulus money.
- $1.5 million for a fence to block would-be jumpers from leaping off the All-American Bridge in Akron, Ohio.
- $1 million to study the health effects of environmentally friendly public housing on 300 people in Chicago.
- $356,000 for Indiana University to study childhood comprehension of foreign accents compared with native speech.
- $983,952 for street beautification in Ann Arbor, Mich., including decorative lighting, trees, benches and bike paths.
- $148,438 for Washington State University to analyze the use of marijuana in conjunction with medications like morphine.
- $462,000 to purchase 22 concrete toilets for use in the Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri
- $3.1 million to transform a canal barge into a floating museum that will travel the Erie Canal in New York state.
- $1.3 million on government arts jobs in Maine, including $30,000 for basket makers, $20,000 for storytelling and $12,500 for a music festival.
- $71,000 for a hybrid car to be used by student drivers in Colchester, Vt., as well as a plug-in hybrid for town workers decked out with a sign touting the vehicle's energy efficiency.
- $1 million for Portland, Ore., to replace 100 aging bike lockers and build a garage that would house 250 bicycles.
Sources: News reports, Office of the Senate Minority Leader, Office of Sen. Tom Coburn
sferrechio@washingtonexaminer.com
Hmmm, 2% of the stimulus was pork. That's not bad for our Congress. You know, Bret, the entity that actually controls the purse strings?
Then why are people still blaming Bush for things Congress did?
If Obama had gained the Presidency in the same fashion as Bush in 2000would YOU have approved?
None of the cited examples led to the number of deaths which Bush's action concerning Iraq and his inaction concerning New Orleans did. That's noteworthy.
Still don't get the whole 2K thing, eh? He won. Gore didn't. If you want to continue on with the argument then we're going to have to get into polls closed early, Military ballots not counted, etc. If Obama had won under the same circumstances then I'd probably feel about like you do, but I would hope I could let it go in 9 years.
Iraq- best I not discuss my feelings, I don't want to get spittle on the screen. Lets just say our guys are still dying over there and elsewhere while The Messiah dithers about just what to do. I thought they were all coming home ASAP?
New Orleans- Hmmm, do you hold Ray Nagan and the La. Governor at fault too? Do you hold any of the people who ignored orders at fault? Did diverting money from the levees to a sports and convention center play into this at all? Why is it La. still hasn't recovered and yet Mississippi, which got hit just as hard, didn't fall to pieces in the first place and recovered just without all the drama? Could it be different attitudes had a role in the whole thing?
Empty arguments Pat.
Yes, Bret, Bush won but it took the judgement of the Supreme Court to seal it. Gore acted in the best interest of the country and conceded. of course
I've let it go. Time marches on. Thank you for being so understanding by admitting that had the tables been reversed, you too, would have been upset.
But you were listing numerous faux pas of Obama's so I felt it only fair to point out two major ones of President Bush. I stand by the examples. Both were a clear lack of leadership in a time of crisis.
Of course Bush is not the only one responsible but as President he could have made a huge difference. If he had said let's study this case for going to war with Iraz a little more or had he not gone to be when the levees broke well, things might have gone differently.
The original post was concerning how Obama has done in his first year. No he hasn't ended the wars but wars are easily entered into but not so easily exited.
Should a Katrina like crisis emerge or God forbid, another 9/11 catastrophe, I'll wager that Obama will not head off to bed nor will he take to the skies.
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