So, we are at the vaunted 100 day mark, and that means that pundits everywhere have decided it is time to “grade” the Obama administration. Putting aside the fact that the first hundred days is just a made up metric that makes no sense whatsoever, what we can expect today is gushing reports about the President’s poll numbers, streams of partisan Democratic operatives flooding the airwaves telling us how wonderful things are fairly balanced with hundreds of Republican operatives telling us how much everything sucks.
Break out the hipwaders.
DougJ
There’s a Q&A with Fred Hiatt at 2:30 about this.
I’m going to try to sneak in a question about not looking weak to the new flu virus. He somes dumb enough to field it.
DougJ
Maybe something like
It needs work, I guess.
DBrown
Obama has won big time over these first 100 days and proven that the Dems are gaining strength through sanity while the repub’s continue to go Taliban and self-destruct. I really don’t understand the repub-a-thugs approach unless they know we are in a death spiral and economic collapse will allow a party of hate and fear to rise out of the South where such beliefs are part of their souls.
Scruffy McSnufflepuss
My Gooper acquaintances are already talking about impeachment.
I wish that was a joke. But, it isn’t. However, they are a joke, so I guess it sort of works out.
rob
Now there has been a death in the US of the swine flu. This puts a damper on some of the celebrations of the first 100.
PaulW
The 100-day metric started under FDR, when he promised action by his administration in the first 100 days. It’s a rather solid measuring device, since Presidents come in with an agenda that they have to fight Congress on a few issues, and because usually some crisis or critical decision needs to be made within that 100 days.
Englischlehrer
I’m moderating an open dialogue at the Carl Schurz German American House here in the Black Forest. It’s going to be difficult to discuss the first 100 days without getting angry at Republicans for their obstructionism, Obama’s DOJ for defending some Bush practices and the media’s obsession with his handshake with Chavez. I’m going to try and focus on the good things, we’ll see how it goes…
So, what are the best and worst 5 things of Obama’s presidency so far?
Tom
My favorite right-wing “100 day” talking point is that Obama has the second lowest approval rating at this point in his presidency of the past 40 years.
Here’s where I first saw it.
http://hnn.us/blogs/entries/79295.html
She compares the 56% “good” and “excellent” response to a Gallup poll to past president Gallup approval ratings.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/117853/First-100-Days-Obama-Meets-Exceeds-Expectations.aspx
But, anyone who follows Gallup knows that Obama is consistently in the low to mid 60s in his approval rating. If you look at this page, you’ll see his actual approval rating is 63%, not 56%.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/116479/Barack-Obama-Presidential-Job-Approval.aspx
Even the Washington Times has picked up this BS.
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/apr/28/baracks-in-the-basement/print/
Me
I wish we had evolved with 4 fingers, that way we would’ve had this out of the way after 64 days.
El Cid
We reject the foreign, French metric system, so instead of 100 days we need to use an appropriate, historical English / Imperial measurement. Maybe the first 36 days, or the first 5,284 hours (220 days).
Me
We reject the foreign, French metric system, so instead of 100 days we need to use an appropriate, historical English / Imperial measurement. Maybe the first 36 days, or the first 5,284 hours (220 days).
Or we could go biblical: 40 days.
SGEW
@Englischlehrer: Where in the Black Forest? I really liked Baden-Baden and Offenburg when I was there, and I wish I had the chance to spend more time trekking around (instead of being stuck in Saarbrucken – nothin’ against Saarbrucken tho’: great potato dishes!).
Anyway . . .
Hrm . . . Sounds like a fun exercise. Off th’ top of my head, the 5 “best”:
1.) Ordered the end to all torture.
2.) The stimulus package.
3.) The Lilly Ledbetter act.
4.) SCHIP expansion.
5.) Ended the global gag rule.
[There’s more, but these are the things that he’s actually already done, rather than things he’s said he will do (withdraw from Iraq, close Gitmo, etc.)]
The 5 “worst”:
1.) TARP.
2.) That fucking flyover here in NYC th’ other day. Do not want!
3.) His continuation of Bush’s State Secrets policy (which was smacked down in court yesterday, hooray!)
4.) Waffle waffle waffle on torture prosecutions/investigations.
5.) Um . . . drawing a blank. The “Special Olympics” joke?
[I am agnostic on the Afghanistan escalation so far]
Similarly, James Fallows has a nice “top 9” list of Obama’s best moments as viewed from abroad. Great read.
SGEW
Oh, and also: The Onion has been running a great rundown on Obama’s First 100 Days.
I’m going to be sorry when it ends, frankly.
MysticalChick
Oh, it’s already started. My repug friend sent me a whole list of crap that Obama either HAS done that they hate or HASN’T done and for which they are pissed. Welcome to “Can’t Win Theatre”. Plenty of seats for all the morans.
(PS: I didn’t even read the stupid thing. And I didn’t discuss any of it with him because he’s all talking point all the time. YEESH.)
Comrade Dread
It’s all rather inane since economic policies tend to take months before showing results and foreign policy initiatives can take years to bear fruit.
So we’re either condemning or praising a guy for getting a lot of laws/bills/executive orders signed off when we have no idea what the real effect of them will be yet.
If it would mean that the pundit class would get boils or be plagued with flies, I say it would be an improvement.
Comrade Nikolita
I really don’t like the idea of “grading” a person in power, especially one who’s been in power for less than 6 months or a year. It’s just stupid.
He’s better than Bush and people still give him an F. Must be wingnuts or Republicans.
Xecky Gilchrist
@Scruffy McSnufflepuss: My Gooper acquaintances are already talking about impeachment.
Has this comment been in moderation since October, or are your acquaintances unusually patient for Goopers?
BombIranForChrist
Chinwaders.
JK
Why on Earth do we need stories on the first 100 days of Michelle Obama’s tenure as First Lady?
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090427/D97QLN380.html
What’s next? The first 100 days of Sasha and Malea?
Corner Stone
@Comrade Dread:
But then what would the punditry have to navel gaze about? Fer gawd’s sake man! Think of the pundits for once in your miserable life!
JK
100 days of bullshit media coverage of Obama’s first 100 days
http://mediamatters.org/items/200904290003?f=h_top
http://mediamatters.org/columns/200904290009?f=h_top
http://mediamatters.org/items/200904240038?f=h_top
JK
@Tom: Very dissapointing to see that post on HNN. I visit their site often and that post flies in the face of their normally high standards.
Aaron
@SGEW:
If I may add a few:
Good things:
– changing the preferred position of the freedom of information act to foster the release of information
– Weekly youtube addresses
– Press conferences that don’t make you cringe
– attempting to restore diplomatic relations with the rest of the world
Bad Things (in my personal opinion)
– FISA stance
– Lack of willingness to prosecute torture-enablers
– Trouble selecting cabinets members who have paid taxes
– Afghanistan ramp up
The Cat Who Would Be Tunch
@JK:
I’m waiting for Petsmart to sell magazines commemorating the first 100 days of Bo.
@Aaron:
My additions to your list:
Pro:
Renewed focus on science/tech R&D
Cons:
PPIP
Lack of aggressiveness in renegotiating banks’ MBS and CDS obligations
Just to be clear, the way I see these lists is a work-in-progress. To start ‘grading’ the the Obama administration when they’re dealing with systemic issues on just about every front, foreign relations, economic, environmental, etc, in 100 days is just silly. It took decades for these problems to accumulate and we’re going to determine how well he’s done to solve these problems in 100 days? Right.
Elie
I put it this way — whether he has made good or bad decisions as we look at them one at a time, one thing is sure — he is OUR President and it seems that the country has settled into that comfort. Which is not to say that everything he does is or should be approved — only that we accept that he leads us.
The other thing that is happening as well in my opinion, but in smaller, more subtle ways, the way we behave as citizens and even to some extend the hysteria of the MSM is being modified by his influence. This is very good for the long run and I think is part of the reason that the Republicans are so hysterical — they are losing their only real paradigm for “leadership” — fear and anger and all other related emotions that cause people to reject reason. A calm, more empowered, less angry citizenry is not as open to their manipulations…the spell is wearing off leaving their party and its message lost and irrelevant..
Tom
@ JK
I actually had never seen that site before, but I was surprised it was affiliated with George Mason considering how factually wrong and wingnutty that post is.
I actually e-mailed Gallup about this and they confirmed that it’s not a valid comparison. Here’s the e-mail:
Tom,
Very perceptive question. Gallup’s standard presidential job approval question – the one we’ve been asking since the 1930s – is: “Do you approve or disapprove of the way (president’s name) is handling his job as president?” Responses are simply categorized as “approve,” “disapprove,” “don’t know,” or “refuse to answer.” It is certainly reasonable to compare responses to this question among various presidents, or for the same president at different times in his administration. For example, 63% of adult Americans who were asked this question on Monday responded that they approve, while 31% responded that they disapprove of Barack Obama’s handling of his job. This is relatively good, but not a record. Presidents typically enjoy relatively high ratings on this question at the beginning of their administration, and the ratings tend to drop in the first few months before stabilizing somewhat (depending on events). Here’s a link that shows Barack Obama’s approval ratings are following this general pattern:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/113980/Gallup-Daily-Obama-Job-Approval.aspx
Recently, however, we asked a slightly different question that attempts to expand upon this information. We asked, “How would you rate the job Barack Obama has been doing as president so far: excellent, good, just okay, poor, or terrible?” Responses were, therefore, in six categories (including don’t know/refuse) instead of four, so it would be misleading to compare responses to this question with responses to our standard question. It would not be an “apples to apples” comparison since the response categories are different.
I hope this helps.
Thank you,
Jim
Gallup Client Support
——Original Message——-
From: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
To: [email protected]
Sent: 4/28/2009 2:49 PM
Subject: Gallup Poll Contact
Site: Poll.gallup.com
Subject: Gallup Poll Contact
Message: I have a question about the 56% “good” and “excellent” score Obama earned on your 100 day poll. Many people have been saying that this is an approval rating and comparing it to past president’s April approval ratings. Would this be accurate? Is the 56% an approval rating? I ask because his daily approval rating has been between 59-65% recently. Do you combine “good” and “excellent” responses to get the daily approval rating? Thanks in advance, Tom