PERRYSCOPE

Perry Diaz
Obama’s first 100 days

When President Barack Obama was sworn into office, he didn’t waste any time. He immediately set into motion a lot of the things that he promised the American people during the presidential elections.

That’s no small feat for a junior senator who daringly plunged into the turbulent sea of economic chaos -- likened to an incoming 100-foot tsunami traveling at 100 miles an hour that was wreaking havoc on the economy. It was a “sink or swim” situation for Obama. But after 80 days of fighting the odds against him, he is still standing -- and firmly in charge -- amidst the devastated economic landscape, unscathed from the incessant shark attacks of the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Michael Steele.

Fresh from his successful eight-day European trip, capped by the G-20 conference, Obama is poised to take the offensive at home to rein in the “monster” that has emerged in the aftermath of the financial meltdown during the waning days of the Bush presidency. That “monster” has taken a life of its own and is gnawing at everything in its way.

A poll taken by New York Times/CBS news barely 11 weeks into Obama’s presidency seems encouraging. On January 15, 2009, a few days prior to his occupancy of the White House, 15% said that they thought that the “country was headed in the right direction.” In April, barely three months later, that number almost tripled to 39%.
Today, his approval rating among Democrats is a stunning 97% while 67% of independents rate him favorably, and 31% among Republicans gave him the thumbs up.

And when it comes to “trust,” voters -- by more than three to one -- said that they trusted Obama more than they trusted the congressional Republicans when it’s about making the right decisions for the economy. The American people approved Obama’s handling of the economy (56%), foreign policy (59%), and the Iraq and Afghanistan wars (59%). All in all, two-thirds overwhelmingly gave Obama high marks on his job performance.

The poll also showed that the public did not blame Obama for the economic crisis while 33% blamed former president George Bush, 21% blamed the financial institutions, and 11% blamed Congress.

With barely three weeks left in his first 100 days in office, Obama is working hard to get as much done to jumpstart economy. According to PolitiFact, an organization that monitors Obama’s performance on its “Obameter,” Obama made approximately 500 promises during the campaign. It tracks his promises as follows: Promises kept, Compromise, Promise broken, Stalled, In the works, and No action. To date, “Obameter” shows 23 promises kept and 62 in the works. The 23 kept promises are:

1. Create a foreclosure prevention fund for homeowners.
2 . Expand loan programs for small businesses.
3. Extend and index the 2007 Alternative Minimum Tax patch.
4. Expand eligibility for State Children's Health Insurance Fund (SCHIP).
5. Expand funding to train primary care providers and public health practitioners.
6. Direct military leaders to end war in Iraq.
7. Send two additional brigades to Afghanistan.
8. Give a speech at a major Islamic forum in the first 100 days of his administration.
9. Restore funding for the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (Byrne/JAG) program.
10. Release presidential records.
11. Require new hires to sign a form affirming their hiring was not due to political affiliation or contributions.
12. Remove more brush, small trees and vegetation that fuel wildfires.
13. Create a White House Office on Urban Policy.
14. Support increased funding for the NEA.
15. Work to overturn Ledbetter vs. Goodyear.
16. Ban lobbyist gifts to executive employees.
17. Weatherize 1 million homes per year.
18. Invest in all types of alternative energy.
19. Enact tax credit for consumers for plug-in hybrid cars.
20. Support high-speed rail.
21. Appoint at least one Republican to the cabinet.
22. Extend unemployment insurance benefits and temporarily suspend taxes on these benefits.
23. Reverse restrictions on stem cell research.

With 85 promises kept and in the works, Obama has achieved almost 20% of his campaign promises. At the rate he is producing, he should be able to accomplish pretty much all of his promises by the end of his first term.

Recently, Wells Fargo Bank reported profits for the first time since it received TARP bailout funds -- an indication that the bank has started lending again. Home buyers are coming out of “hibernation.” The National Association of Realtors reported that existing-home sales had increased in February, reversing losses in January.

While Obama seems to have a steady grasp on the economy, the majority of Americans believe that the recession would last for another year or even more. Indeed, they have come to terms that recovery would be a slow and tedious process. After all, it took years of runaway deregulation and boo-boo economic policies that crippled the economy.

Obama told the American people to act responsibly… and they did. They have taken steps to soften the impact of the recession on their lives. The poll shows that 40% had cut spending on luxuries, 10% had cut back on necessities, and 31% had cut back on both. Notwithstanding the grim forecast of a turtle-pace recovery, the American people’s confidence on Obama continues to increase -- a testament to his leadership and adeptness in handling the myriad problems confronting his fledgling administration.

Sad to say, the Republicans have chosen to shut their eyes to all the positive things that Obama has been doing. One might even say that the Republicans have induced themselves into deep stupor. It is no wonder that they’re not seen anymore as belonging to the “Grand Old Party” of Abraham Lincoln. Today, their once great party has morphed into the “Republican’t Party of No” -- a label created by political consultant J.M. Bell -- for saying “NO” to everything that Obama had proposed to do.

As someone once said, “There are three kinds of people: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who didn’t know what the hell happened.” Clearly, Obama belongs to the first kind. When the Republicans wake up in a few years and look around to see what Obama had achieved, they’d probably exclaim, “What the hell happened?” and then go back to sleep. (PerryDiaz@gmail. com)