The First 100 Days

Not surprisingly, there are real reporters out there covering the same thing that my blog covers. Is our new president keeping his campaign promises? How can we judge the first 100 days? Obama said Wednesday that he was "sobered by the fact that change comes slow in Washington" and that although he is now one seat shy of a filibuster-proof Senate with Arlen Spector's party swap, he wants to make it clear to Republicans that reaching out to them in the past was not a political ploy. If Al Franken's second recount goes his way and he wins (again) then well be seeing  60 percent majority of Democrats in the Senate, and even so, the president is still calling for politicians around the country to "stop the political games" until we can get America back on track. Surprisingly, in this most recent conference, Obama answered questions pertaining to national security more so than the general welfare of our economy. A recent spike in violent activity in Iraq prompted reporters to question how much time Obama was spending on fullfilling his promises to withdrawl overseas. Obama assured reporters that although there has been a recent spike in violence, it is nowhere near where we were last year and that the political structure seems to be sustaining itself to some extent. Obama's conference came just hours after both chamber of Congress passed a $3.4 trillion budget resolution for the 2010 fiscal year.

The next article that I found was entitled "Obama: Candidate vs President" an article which I hoped to be more in-depth than the last one about our president keeping his campaign promises. More than two years after Obama questioned the legitimacy of past presidents, and their ability to keep their word, we are doing the same of him. Presidential historian Doug Brinkley says of Obama, "What Obama has successfully done is keep his persona intact, which is a man of deep family values and a core moral center. And I think that people are learning to trust Obama that when he talks, he's not just articulate, but he's shooting straight." As Obama has grown into his presidential shoes as it were, he has changed his message of hope and change to a message of patience, change doesn't come over night especially in America. No one can accuse Obama of not trying to do enough in his first 100 days in office, he seems to be taking on every challenge that our country has to offer, as if he only has 100 days to be president. Yet, the American people have not seen any real change. Its hard to regard the groundwork that he has laid as actual progress but in a political system like ours you need to take what you can get, he has four years to change the country and right now the economy is barely limping back to life and he has more problems than he knows what to do with. Republicans are hoping to see him make more of an effort to reach accross the aisle and fullfill his campaign ideals of a more centrist white house, but many politicians are becoming disheartened with his presidency because he seems to be ignoring those promises. 

Well the polls are in, and as it stands right now 6 out of 10 Americans are giving President Obama the thumbs up, contrary to what Fox News may have you believe. His approval rating has steadily hovered around 63-64% throughout his presidency, but political analysts are comparing him to Johnson and Carter, saying he may drop to 40% or so if the American people don't start seeing tangible campaign promises being kept. The first 100 days polls fall when the American people are still evaluating the job our president is doing, so what Obama really has to worry about is the polls after his first year. Clinton had great approval ratings in his first 100 days but after june of 1993 his ratings tanked. Political analysts are saying that Obama should not be counting his chickens yet because these polls are not representative of him being "out of the woods" as far as approval ratings are concerned, but its still nice to know 6 out of 10 people think you're doing a great job.