Washington Commentary : Obama’s One Hundred Days of Effort – Pleased but Not Satisfied

By Ernest Corea

The practice of passing judgment on a new American president at the end of his first 100 days in office is an unavoidable political ritual that is buttressed by a national inclination towards doing everything by the numbers. Thus, on President Barack Obama’s hundredth day in office newspaper readers encountered snippets of information on the percentage of presidents in the post-World War 2 years who were left-handed (42) like Obama, the average age of the Obama Cabinet (46), and the number of recent newspaper references (75) to Portuguese Water Dogs, the breed of the puppy gifted to the Obamas by Senator Edward Kennedy.

The "100 days" ritual began with President Roosevelt, because of the large number of initiatives he set in motion from the moment he took office. Few of his successors have kept such a sizzling pace, but the “100 days” tradition endures. Like other presidents, when Obama reached his first 100 days he had 1362 more days to cover in his current term. Who can tell whether some unexpected event will make the last of those 100 days more significant than the first 100? "Team Obama" initially attempted to dismiss the tradition as a "Hallmark Holiday," a label applied to inconsequential events elevated to popular public status by manufacturers of greeting cards. Public interest in the benchmark is high, however, and it cannot be shrugged away.

As the hundredth day approached, therefore, it was clear that this particular "Hallmark Holiday" would be used as a great opportunity for the "Obama Brand" to be on special display. For despite the mis-steps (domestically, for instance, poor vetting of nominees for high office; also, napping at the wheel while beneficiaries of taxpayer funds paid themselves fat bonuses; in foreign policy, slow action on some fronts, and a generally lackluster performance by Secretary of State Clinton) there is much to talk about. Ah, yes, but hold the euphoria. The Commerce Department has reported that output contracted at a 6.1 percent annual rate in the first quarter of 2009, after falling at a rate of 6.3 percent in fourth quarter of last year. If the same trend persists, some $1 trillion will be wiped out this year from last year’s output of $14.2 trillion.

Nevertheless, as Day 100 approached, key members of the Administration made themselves available for numerous interviews whose product rippled through column space and bombarded airwaves. On the morning of April 29, Obama addressed a packed and energized town hall meeting in Arnold, Missouri where he gave the audience his own candid assessment of where he stands after 100 days as the 44th American president. He said: “I’m pleased with the progress we’ve made, but I’m not satisfied. I’m confident in the future, but I’m not content with the present.” Later in the day, he returned to Washington DC for a presidential press conference where he spoke of the dire tribulations of the present, and of his vision of a much brighter future.

Independent observers are agreed that few if any presidents have inherited as disastrous a legacy as did Obama when he was sworn in on January 20, 2009. He assumed leadership of a superpower that was distrusted abroad and damaged at home. Unemployment was increasing, housing sales were down, foreclosures were common, the banking system was wobbly, credit was tightening, small businesses were threatened, key industries were imperiled and, overall, GDP was contracting. On top of that there were two wars to complete, and enemies to confront. In human terms, the impact on thousands of lives was staggering.

Urgent and far-reaching correctives were urgently required to turn the situation around. The harmful practices of the past eight years needed to be replaced, as swiftly as time and prudence would permit, with others that would over time substitute hope for despair.

Obama’s liberal base expected him to roll over the right, espousing ideologically “pure” formulas for progress. Obama differed. Yes, of course, as he has said many time since he was elected, the policies of the previous eight years were rejected at the polls, and he was elected, specifically, to define and act on a set of policies with a totally different orientation, in terms of objectives and results. The situation in the country was so dire, however, that the time was right for bipartisanship. When he first burst on the national scene as a public figure, his signature theme was that it was time to dismiss the notion of a land divided into "red states" and "blue states" because there were only "these united states." Pushing that theme forward, he spent his earliest days at the White House in a strenuous effort to create a consensual approach to the daunting tasks ahead.

Obama visited congressional caucuses of both parties, and had many Senators and Representatives over to the White House both collectively and individually for exchanges of views. Some have since said that no president has been as open as he was during that effort. Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, then a Republican and now a Democrat, said that with Obama in the White House he had his very first one-on-one meeting with a president in his 29 years as a Senator. The result of Obama’s single-minded effort?

Zilch. Nada. Nothing. Well, almost. The "stimulus package" he supported as a means of reviving a stagnant economy was passed with only three Republican Senators supporting it, and not a single Republican Representative voting "yes." Although Obama had been everywhere in his pursuit of a united front, a Republican Senator described him as having been AWOL ("absent without leave," an acronym that has the connotation of desertion, in military terms).

Despite the snub, the stimulus package of $787 billion is expected to support job creation, provide tax cuts to some 95 percent of the country’s workers and their families, bring down mortgage rates and help to prevent foreclosures, support education by providing funds to prevent layoff in schools, encourage the long overdue switch to clean energy by financing research, support the development of an improved electric grid, and accelerate action on the next generation of electric vehicles. Obama also made it possible for states to extend unemployment benefits to 3.1 million unemployed people, and authorized health insurance for 4 million children who were without coverage. He signed into law the Edward M. Kennedy Service America Act that provides for the expansion of voluntary national service, and signed off on a law that will help women to fight against unequal pay. His contribution to the welfare of women and youth in his first 100 days has earned him an "A" from Cecille Richard, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America who says: "Regardless of your passion -- the environment, civil rights, living wage, or, like those of us at Planned Parenthood, the health and well being of women and young people -- this administration is a tonic for whatever ails you."

In foreign policy, he has spent much of his time crafting and "showcasing" a new American attitude, both in substance and style. In different and differing geographic regions, he has demonstrated that this is a new day in which relations with nations big and small will be based on mutual interests and mutual respect.

He has banned torture by American interrogators. He has declassified and released documents that show how torture became an instrument of policy. He has ordered the closure of the infamous Guantanamo prison. He has offered the hand of friendship to nations considered part of the "Islamic world," and he has appointed two outstanding special representatives with a solid record of successful negotiations in seemingly intractable situations to search for trust and peace in the Middle East (George Mitchell) and Afghanistan (Richard Holbrooke). He has set out a schedule for US withdrawal from Iraq and thus from a war that was launched and fought on the basis of lies. He has announced new directions in the US relationship with both Afghanistan and Pakistan. He has made some – unfortunately, minimal – changes in the US approach to Cuba. All this and more, at home and abroad, was attempted and achieved in under 15 tumultuous weeks.

Obama has been faulted by domestic critics for having exchanged a handshake with President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, at the recent Summit of the Americas. They have obviously forgotten the result of a refused handshake over half a century ago. Chou en Lai held out his hand to John Foster Dulles during a break in the 1954 Geneva Conference on Indochina. Dulles arrogantly turned away. How many years of bloodshed, how many deaths, did it take before the consequences of that singularly churlish act receded?

Whatever professional politicians might say, the evidence is in that “we the people” trust and respect Obama. They feel great affection for him as well. Public opinion polls have consistently shown him drawing high ratings. The most recent of them (NBC/Wall Street Journal), whose results were announced on the eve of Day 100, found that his public approval rating for the way he is handling the presidency is over 60 percent – higher in some other polls. This is higher than the rating scored by President George W. Bush (56 percent) and President Clinton (53 percent) at similar points in their presidencies. Obama, moreover, has a personal popularity rating of 81 percent, which is stunningly high. His wife Michelle’s popularity is equally high.

Some 43 percent of Americans feel that the country is now moving along the right path, a significant increase of 17 points from 26 percent in January. There is growing confidence, it would appear, that Obama’s policies can take the country out of the valleys of gloom to peaks of hope and, eventually, triumph. On the quicksand of American politics, anything can happen and sometimes does. Confidence in his policies will endure only if they continuously touch and benefit people’s lives.

- Asian Tribune-