Thread: Obama's 100 days: Report Card

Barack Obama's 100-day report card


US President Barack Obama has completed 100 days in office - a traditional moment for taking stock of progress.
Here we attempt to assess how has he done, measured against his own pre-election pledges and goals.
A BBC summary of developments is followed by a comment and scores out of five from Prof Iwan Morgan of London University's Institute for the Study of the Americas. One star indicates a poor performance, five stars an excellent one.
BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Barack Obama's 100-day report card

What scores you would give President Obama?

Originally Posted by Mr Pants

I wouldn't bother giving him a score, its been a mere 100 days

Agreed.

It's too early. 100 days is only symbolic. Lots of water needs to go under the bridge.

I'll wait 2 years. Best of luck to BO.

Correct, Burger!
The dunce cap for Pants! Johnny Larue be quiet at the back there!

The idea that a president's first 100 days are significant arose in Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency, as he pushed through a flurry of bills during the Great Depression. Ever since, presidents have been judged against that useful, if somewhat arbitrary, benchmark.
Mr. Roosevelt "set an impossible standard," says Donald Ritchie, a Senate historian and author of "Electing FDR." "He was batting a thousand in his first 100 days."
Mr. Roosevelt's pace inevitably slowed; the combination of historic economic problems and Democratic majorities in Congress gave him momentum in his first term, but a recession and a controversial court-packing plan that split his party hurt him in his second.
Still, presidents ever since have found themselves trying to manage expectations created by that initial burst of energy. John F. Kennedy insisted his inaugural speech emphasize that the tasks that waited wouldn't be finished in "a hundred days or a thousand." George W. Bush's team solicited advice from scholars on how to handle the milestone. President Barack Obama's team has both dismissed it -- a spokesman recently called it a "Hallmark holiday" -- and embraced it, scheduling a prime-time press conference for Wednesday, Mr. Obama's 100th day in office.
Can the measure of a man -- or a presidency -- be taken in 100 days? Not always. Some presidencies took a sharp turn away from the course set in the earliest days. (Remember Lincoln's support for a 13th Amendment that would have codified slavery?) George W. Bush's presidency was of course largely shaped by a day that came well after his first 100: Sept. 11, 2001.
But 100 days can provide telling insights. Jimmy Carter may not have held on to the high approval ratings garnered during his first days. But his early moves to reconsider water projects prized by lawmakers for creating patronage jobs, and to give Congress scant consultation, heralded an executive branch that sought to do things differently -- and that struggled to bring the legislature on board.
What follows are snapshots of a few past presidents' first 100 days and comparisons with history's final verdict on their tenures.
—Juliet Chung

History's Verdict: What 100 Days Can Reveal - WSJ.com

If anybody is wondering....

1994 and the Gingrich Revolt

The last successful effort to nationalize Congressional races in a nonpresidential year came in 1994, when Newt Gingrich and movement conservatives unfurled their Contract With America and shocked themselves by gaining fifty-four seats to take control of Congress, ending forty years of Democratic rule. That election offers pointed lessons for Democrats hoping for a similar reversal twelve years later.
Conservatives like to paint 1994 as a noble campaign run on ideas and values, with Republicans offering voters a concrete agenda and a principled choice. The reality was something different. The right set up the election with two years of unrelenting, scorched-earth assault on the newly elected Bill Clinton. The resignation under a cloud of the Democratic Speaker and minority whip, the indictment of a powerful committee chair and the post office and House banking scandals helped Gingrich paint Democrats as corrupt, arrogant and out of touch.
Gingrich's Contract With America was a notably cynical document. The controversial social passions of the conservative base--abortion, school prayer, guns--were left out. The Contract promised a balanced-budget amendment to appeal to Perot voters but also more tax cuts. It called for term limits for legislators that few would observe. Most of the measures were poll-tested conservative staples--tax cuts, a bigger military, tough on crime and welfare, plus the inevitable corporate pandering of "tort reform" and deregulation.
Substance was less important than symbol. Republicans had a specific plan that included bold political reform, and they promised to be held accountable. Despite Democratic attacks, most voters didn't know the details, yet the Contract helped the GOP present itself as a unified party with a positive plan for change.

Clinton jokingly called it the contract ON America.

I thought Osama had been captured in a spider hole? Or was that Saddam?

Originally Posted by wallyburger3

Let's not forget Newt Gengrich's contract with America ---- the sad bastard couldn't keep his contract with his wife while she was dying .... Little known fact about Newt is that he ran against Cooter! (Ben Jones -- the guy that played Cooter on the Dukes of Hazzard ) Imagine the voters of rural Georgia being faced with voting for Newt or Cooter?

Coupled with the fact of having Jimmy Carter hail from your state and Georgia has much to be ashamed of....

Originally Posted by Lucian

Carter won a Nobel Peace Prize and ended 30 years of hostility between Israel and Egypt. What have you ever done with your life nuckingfutz? (apart from write tedious posts on ajarn.com).

Carter seems to be rated pretty high for his post presidency performance.