Obama report card on 1st 100 days

[killarney_sailor]

As a former teacher who is used to giving lots of grades I could only give him an "Incomplete". Any substantive grade at this point is silly. He has obviously been facing huge challenges and hasn't totally screwed up. He has also proven to be very charming - a huge asset for a successful president. Better to give him an interim grade after a year.

[PBzeer]

Gallup puts it at 65 - 62 w/2.2% polling error. As I said, basically equal. It's interesting that just yesterday, Gallup had Obama at 63 instead of 65.

[danjarch]

One of the few things Obama has said that I agree with " the 100 days is a halmark holiday".

[craigimass]

Originally Posted by erps

So Craigimass,

Tell us the truth. We're you one of the 90% that approved off Bush after 9/11? Or were you one of those 10%'ers?

No question there......
I was 100% against the war(s), both in Afghanistan and the buildups to Iraq. I saw clearly where GW was going with that "capital" from that disaster.

So, no, I was one of the 10%

If you ask me where I was before that......well, that is different. I really didn't care too much - just thought he would provide some laughs and entertainment. I didn't vote for Gore or Bush in 2000.

I try to be as consistent as possible and am willing to take the lumps if I am wrong. In this case, I felt that police and covert actions in Afghanistan and Pakistan would have gotten what we needed without the cost and collateral damage. I felt that Iraq was a total fiasco.

In both cases, it turned out I was right. But maybe that was somewhat lucky. I honestly thought, to my horror, that GW would gain vast power and popularity due to his "instant" takeover of Iraq (as he and everyone else claimed would happen). That would have been a big problem, because it only would have led to many more false wars.

So, anyway, that's the scorecard at this point.

[erps]

I try to be as consistent as possible and am willing to take the lumps if I am wrong.

I can respect that. I think if a person is working from a set of principles, they tend to be consistent.

I felt that Iraq was a total fiasco.

In both cases, it turned out I was right.

I guess that depends on your measuring stick.

[craigimass]

No, I don't think it depends on a measuring stick.

When goals are set - 100's of them, and none met. When the entire case and premises are either false or inflated. When the mission is NOT accomplished. When you spend 50x what you said, and end up killing, wounding and displacing 100X or more as you figured -and when the time period is longer than WWII with no real clear finish in sight....that is total failure. There really is no other way to look at it.

One could support it or not. That does not change the realities of history which have already occurred.

I actually did try to read the book Fiasco, which is a blow by blow account of every meeting and decision leading up to the Iraq debacle.......

About 50 pages in, I had enough. Each page spells out clearly MANY specific and intentional mistakes (well, I should not call them mistakes since many were intentional) which were made.

The world is a forgiving place. You can make mistakes and still do enough on the other side of the equation to fix 'em. But as we learned when we were young "All the Kings horse and all the Kings men- couldn't put Humpty Dumpty back together again".

I didn't make it so. I'm just the messenger. But once you send the bull into the china shop, don't expect the inventory to be worth much later.

[wind_magic]

Craigimass,

You being pretty partisan I am curious if there is anything about the Presidents time in office that you have not been happy with, anything he is doing or has done that you don't agree with.

[wind_magic]

Pbz,

Being a partisan on the other side of it, same question on it's head, is there anything the President has done or is doing that you actually agree with.

[poopdeckpappy]

A recent state by state poll asked this question

Has BHO changed Washington for the better; the national average is

Yes 31%
No 63%

6% are idiots

All but one state has the NO in the 60% range with the exception of LA, Montana & Texas who are in the low - mid 70%; The only state that has a different view is DC, they have it at a 59% yes.

This should answer any question of whether or not DC has lost touch with reality and their employers

[craigimass]

Well, I don't think micromanagement helps...since I have no idea of the input stream (decision making process) which the President has, I cannot make assumption which I know little about.

I think he has a good education and a good head on his shoulders. But he also is only one part of government. He does not make decisions alone, but rather along with a cabinet, congress, the American people, etc. - political and other pressures enter into it.

I could look at each little thing and I probably would not agree with hardly any of them.....but as general statements:
1. I think he has a view of this country much closer to mine - that is, a practical and realistic reasoning of our possibilities...not tied up with what his father in heaven or other voices are telling him. That, to me, is a good thing.
2. I do not think he is in the pocket of big oil or the US Chamber of Commerce or other groups who may not have our best interests in mind.
3. I am 100% with him in that we need to invest HERE...something that we have not been doing in the past years, as our money ended up going to wars and oil companies and wall street (who blew it!).
4. I think he has very admirable leadership qualities - he is always speaking well about his opposition, and has brought many people who think differently than he does into his inner circles. This is in contrast to GW, who demanded 100% loyalty to HIM, or else you were gone, gone, gone.

As to exact policies and decision - that is always tough. For instance, the Wall Street Bailout - 800 billion. This was a policy proposed by GW and Paulson who sat down with the biggies before O was Prez and said "if you don't do this, the country will be gone"......and, of course, this money was passed and signed by GW. So would I expect O to take office and say "forget it"? No way! But they did start immediately putting in various rules and requests to get more of a handle on the money. Prior to that, it was being given out with almost no strings attached.

I would not build up the Afghanistan war. The solution to losing is not to lose some more! When you make a mistake, you don't fix it by making more of the same mistakes over and over. Heck, it has been 8 years since we "won" that war and the Taliban (some dudes with motor scooters and pickup trucks) are now talking over Pakistan...our great ally! The guy we installed in Afghanistan is HATED by the populace - his brother is a kingpin narcotics dealer and the whole admin is corrupt to the core.

So I would disagree with MANY government policies and I suppose this will always be so. My standard, though, would be whether things were headed in a more positive direction - and whether I had some level of trust in the whole crew (executive branch) in DC.

By that standard, I am extremely pleased. And based on the amazing rise in the number of people who think this country is headed in the right direction, my opinion is shared by a LOT of people.