6 weeks, 42 days. Not even 100 yet. But let's give Obama a grade

'cause it's fun. And maybe it's just me, but it seems like there's been a lot more scrutiny of him than previous presidents over the same time period. Like, the traditional Honeymoon is shorter and perhaps is already over if members of his own party are criticizing him.

only because I think he's being a bit slow and not being forceful enough.

He has carte blanche for the next year and can do NO WRONG. He needs to shake up the apple cart NOW!

I think he is slowly bringing out all of the hidden secrets for us all to see. He has a lot of unraveling to do and putting things back together after all of the shredding and email hiding that has been going on for eight years..

You do realize that these are probably already the most active 100 days in the history of the Presidency, right?

If he pushes any harder he risks breaking something other than freeper heads ;)

Obama has moved faster than any other president including FDR. He isn't a dictator after all. Wouldn't you say his proposed budget overturns the apple cart?

as he's moved faster and accomplished more in less time than any president, with the possible exception of FDR.
Much remains to be done.
And his "lack of forcefulness" is simply long-term strategy to collapse opposition.

Thank goodness he's in top physical condition.

He will continue to need that.

and this quote here is haunting me....

"Obama has decided to cast his lot with those of us who have been fighting for big, transformative change. If he succeeds, we succeed, and if he fails, we fail - and we fail for at least another generation, because no Democrat will take big risks again for a very long time if Obama loses this gamble."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-lux/obama-and-the-progressive_b_171083.html

I'm waiting on education. Don't much like Arne, but I'm waiting.

End the war means END THE WAR.

Bring ALL the troops home from Iraq.

No transfers to Afghanistan

No permanent force of 50,000 in Iraq

I'll give Obama a B+ and I'll keep working to end the war.

SoFA with Iraq has those OUT by the end of 2011.

I'm pretty ++ with what he's doing so far.

Excellent but should do something about the excessive use of state secrets to block lawsuits.

..he deserves it or not, I'm giving Obama an A+ because the repulic party doesn't need any more help. Thanks.
quickesst

hit whores abound

See below.

He is doing a great job and he is doing one million times better than his predecessor did. I only have a couple of minor quibbles. I thought that his stimulus package should have allocated much more money for broadband deployment, and I am disappointed that he does not support repealing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

than ~$800 billion.

However, with the new progressive-in-nature $3.6 trillion federal budget, and this additional $410 billion discretionary spending bill being debated, that will allay nearly all my concerns.

I agree with you but between Blue Dogs and Repugs, do you really think an 800 mil dollar recovery bill would pass?

hello

The speed with which he is moving really impresses me.

Kucinich would have done better, but there's no way he would be elected by a majority of voters across the country.

He's doing well, but the situations at hand requires him to do better.
And there have been a few serious disappointments along the way.

Slow to use his massive political capital. If you don't use it, you lose it.
Gates staying on as Sec Def
Supporting Caroline Kennedy as Senator of NY as payback for support during primaries.
Sebelius as HHS -- absolutely ghastly decision. Robs a RED state of a "Democrat" and puts a corporatist in charge of Health care.
Backtracking on Don't Ask Don't Tell policy changes.
Siding with the Bush Administration to protect Rove and others in unprecedented expansions of the Executive Branch.
Backtracking on many promises of government transparency.
The whole bi-partisanship schtick... may be good politically, but we ended up with a very expensive and very ineffective stimulus bill.
Rick Warren at the inauguration - huge slap to me.

Despite these and other negatives, he has done enough right to earn a "B" from me. But don't make me think too hard, or it may drop to a B-

There's room for improvement (good points you brought up there) but the alternative was/is unthinkable. That's my mantra.

The left are pushing and staying involved which is a good thing and since we have no say so on who he picks, we'll just have to keep calling, writing and applying pressure so we will be heard on the issues that concern us, good and dreadful.

I know that in Kansas, she blocked a deal that would have led to higher premiums.

Nothing really to complain about so. Also if you're going to give D or F you at least have the courage to explain why.

Pros:

The world opinion of us is going up

We are leaving Iraq soon, gitmo is closing

Last year, before the economic collapse, 85% of people thought we were on the wrong track as a country. Despite the economic collapse that number has dropped to about 50%. Obama is doing a great job of uniting the country and making us hopeful (rather than defeated).

He is pursing a progressive agenda. UHC, studying how to make healthcare efficient, tens of billions in renewable energy, progressive taxation, cap & trade,

Signed numerous pro-labor executive orders in his first month.

The stimulus bill is decent.

Cons:

Still seems like he wants to cover up the crimes of Bush rather than investigate them

His desire for bipartisanship may blind him to the serious differences in policy between movement conservatives and progressives

The stimulus is likely too small, and bank nationalization will likely be needed but he is balking on that.

He has exceeded my expectations.

His Afghanistan "policy" (if indeed setting an arbitrary level of troop strength with no defined mission can be called "policy") is a potentially epic disaster in the making.

His Iraq policy is not the kind of withdrawal he promised, which was already too little too late.

His health care effort does not impress me. He wants to enshrine the insurance companies as the perpetual custodians of American health care. We need a single-payer not-for-profit system; otherwise, any economic gains will be minimal and we will be "fixing" this problem over and over again in the future. Get the insurance companies OUT of the industry. They serve no useful role there.

On the positive side, his stimulus package, though far too small and far too burdened with useless tax-cut voodoo, was a good start. He has accomplished more than I thought possible in his first month. He has moved positively in a number of areas and has been somewhat less right of center than I expected. In a number of areas, he has fearlessly attacked the heart of the duplicitous "government" of the last twenty-eight years and the absurd legacy of reaganism (although in some areas he has not).


In light of his vague and noncommittal position on holding the bush gang accountable for their crimes and his repeated references to the cowardly "looking forward" euphemism, I must give him an Incomplete. He needs to move much more aggressively to curtail the power of corporations on Wall Street, in the military sector and in the insurance sector. He also needs to cease the foolish and counter-productive charade of "bipartisanship."

seems to have misunderestimated the venom of the repukes and their total lack of concern for the country or us citizens.

The cabinet's a bit too conservative for my taste, the Rove and FISA things were disappointing, the tax problems were a distraction, not sure about his Afghanistan policy yet - but he's certainly repaired a lot of damage in a short time. I'm very pleased overall.

Mostly bad appointments to his cabinet; no real reform on health care; we're still in Iraq and expanding in Afghanistan; increased amount of "Defense" spending in budget; did not immediately cancel Bush tax cuts; supporting the bailouts of banks without much oversight; snubbing Howard Dean and the real progressives

Economy: Incomplete
Woodshop: B