Obama's balance sheet after 100 days in office

2009-04-29 11:53:24  

    by Xinhua writer Yang Qingchuan

    WASHINGTON, April 28 (Xinhua) --

When assessing the U.S. president's first 100 days in office, a journalistic ritual beginning with Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933, everyone seems to have a different version of Barack Obama's "balance sheet," a long list of his achievements and setbacks.

    FULL OF EVENTS

    Although opinions vary, no one will argue that the 100 days are full of events and the president has kept a busy schedule from Day One.

    For example, Obama signed more executive orders, memoranda and proclamations than any of his predecessors did in the same period since Roosevelt, according to the statistics from the American Presidency Project at the University of California.

    Obama also spent more of those days overseas than any of his 43 predecessors.

    In his first 100 days, Obama held almost as many prime time press conferences as George W. Bush did during his entire first term.

    Only Bill Clinton and Harry Truman held more press conferences in their first 100 days.

    Moreover, the media-savvy president explored every possible channel to communicate with ordinary American on an unprecedented level, be it "town-hall" style meeting, or an Internet video messaging, or a TV interview.

    The following are a rundown of the major actions he took since swearing in.

    Addressing the economic downturn, Obama pushed his signature 787-billion-U.S.-dollar stimulus package through the Congress quickly, getting both chambers of the Congress pass a sweeping 3.6-trillion-dollar budget plan, announcing a 275-billion-dollar plan to stave off home foreclosures and a 100-billion-dollar bank rescue plan, forcing out the chief executive of the General Motor, and putting a limit on corporate executive pay.

    He also acted rapidly to execute a progressive domestic agenda, signing laws that require equal pay for women and expand health care benefits, implementing new ethnics guidelines to curtail the influence of lobbyists, reversing a ban on funding for embryo stem cell research and signing a national service law.

    Obama also made important new gestures on the external front: announcing a time table to withdraw U.S. combat troops from Iraq and a new strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan; setting a new tone of multilateralism and cooperation during his visits to Canada, Europe, Turkey and Latin America; taking steps to ease tensions with Cuba, Iran and Venezuela; trying to improve ties with world's other powers; ordering closure of Guantanamo prison within one year; becoming actively engaged in global climate talks; ending a pirate incident off Somalia in a decisive fashion.

    Many scholars including Shirley Anne Warshaw at Gettysburg College are impressed by so many things that Obama has done in such a short period.

    "With breath-taking speed, the Obama administration has set in motion a remarkable set of domestic initiatives. With equal speed, the administration has moved to distance itself from the Bush administration in foreign policy," she said.

    But others aren't so sure. E. Thomas McClanahan wrote in the Kansas City Star that Obama "is a president who wants to accomplish great things, but he also wants to please everyone. As a result, he finds it tough to set priorities."

    A CNN survey also found some 40 percent respondents voiced their worries that the president had to deal with so many things at the same time.

    STABILIZING PUBLIC SENTIMENTS

    Many observers agree it is still too early to see through the effects of Obama's major policy initiatives enacted in his first 100 days in office, but the president's biggest achievement may be his ability to stabilize public sentiments amid crisis.

    "He has repeatedly persuaded the American people of his sincerity, earnestness and concern," said Alvin S. Felzenberg, a political scientist.

    A number of recent opinion polls showed about two-thirds of Americans approved Obama's job performance during his first 100 days in office.

    By that standard, he outperformed all his predecessors since Jimmy Carter.

    "President Obama is off to a solid start as president, as far as his job approval ratings are concerned," said Jeffrey M. Jones, managing editor of the Gallup Poll.

    Moreover, despite the fact that the economy is falling continuously, U.S. public turns optimistic.

    A recent poll found for the first time since January 2004, more Americans felt the country was heading in the right direction than in the wrong direction (48 percent to 44 percent).

    Observers said the optimism could be partly attributed to Obama's clean break from the unpopular Bush administration on many issues, at least it seems.

    The president's "Mr. Cool" reputation also helped to calm down the nation's anxiety.

    He is also a master of making speech and communicating with voters.

    That is why, a lot of polls found that the president was in fact more popular than his own policies.

    It is not an easy feat. Among all his predecessors, only Ronald Reagan had that kind of ability.

    Obama's ability to sustain a high level of approval rating may mean the honeymoon between U.S. public and the new administration is still going on.

    In turn, it means the president may have more time and more room to push through his agenda.

    REAL TEST STILL AHEAD

    Many scholars argued the 100-day assessment of a new president is "arbitrary and artificial," and the real test often comes after the first 100 days.

    "Forget about the first 100 days of a president's term," said Allan J. Lichtman, a professor at the American University.

    In fact, the White House concedes the following days will be at least as tough as the first 100 days.

    Looking forward, analysts said Obama needed to handle the following relations well to make substantial achievements.

    First, how to deal with the Republican party. Despite the Democratic president's pledge on forging bipartisan cooperation, that goal fell short.

    A recent Pew survey found Obama's popularity gap between Democrats and Republicans was 61 percent, the largest bipartisan gap for a president since the survey began.

    His stimulus packaged passed the House without a single Republican vote and got merely three Republican votes in the Senate.

    Such a divisive political atmosphere will make it harder to forge national consensus that is much needed amid a crisis.

    Secondly, Obama knows clearly that the Congress, even controlled by his own party, won't give him everything he wants.

    The White House-Capitol Hill battles on issues of budget, energy and health care can be expected.

    Thirdly, on the crucial issue of financial reform, Obama is trapped between the public and the Wall Street.

    The banks are still unwilling to take responsibility for the crisis while angry voters believe Obama's financial advisors are too kind to the banks.

    Internationally, it is in the America's vital interests to cooperate with the rest of the world to fend off the crisis.

    Obama's new gestures and overtures are well received by many countries, but the world is more willing to see the president to match his words with deeds.

    Finally, the president needs to balance his urgent task with his long-term vision.

    Focusing on economy is an imperative but Obama also aspires to be a reform leader like Roosevelt.

    But if he fails on economy, the vision of "remaking America" will be just a dream.

    From a historical perspective, the "balance sheet" in a U.S. president during the first 100 days doesn't matter much for the rest of his presidency.

    What the first 100 days can not do is to predict the course of the rest of the presidency, said Larry Sabato, a political scholar at the University of Virginia.

    After all, with a few exceptions, the most impressive thing in a president's term usually happens after the 100 days.