"Amid the cadences of disappointment expressed in excruciating
detail, these days the unfortunate man in the Oval Office no longer seems able
to get anything right … And in spite of all that: Barack Obama is doing a good
job."
A sort of Obama-bashing
festival is being celebrated on the first anniversary of the American
president’s inauguration: He's allegedly plagued by declining polls, hasn't kept
his promises, has disappointed his supporters, and is too soft on dangerous
potentates and the superpower's emerging global competitors. Amid the cadences
of disappointment expressed in excruciating detail, these days the unfortunate
man in the Oval Office no longer seems able to get anything right. Dissatisfaction,
unfair judgment and the kind of malice only bona fide overachievers can expect is
all Obama can be sure of. All sense of proportion appears lost.
And
in spite of all that: Barack Obama is doing a good job.
A year ago when he took
charge of the economic crisis, things reached a climax. There were rampant
fears of a major depression and the sense of doom was spreading. Meanwhile, the
situation has somewhat stabilized. Obama, who was able to wring an $800 billion
stimulus package out of Congress, can take some of the credit for this. In
addition, the United States again has all of its international policy options open.
In terms of the miserable political and economic situation he U.S. found itself
in, Obama has done a lot.
Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US
Those who have absolutely no
recollection of the period before Obama might want to review recent television
images in which alongside Obama, a smirking George W. Bush appears in the White
House Rose Garden as a Haiti relief worker. We’ve experienced both and there
is no comparison.That can be the only conclusion drawn from such a
review.
President
Obama discusses his first year in office with ABCNews
That doesn’t mean Obama hasn't
made mistakes last year. The one Obama's critics complain about the least is probably
the fact that the cool-headed president, in his emphasis on pragmatism and the
new realism with which he governs, seems to have forgotten politics. With his
assumption of office, it almost seems as if the brilliant campaigner has lost
touch with the people. TheNew
York Times diagnosed that between April and June 2009, the polls show that Barack
Obama and the administration that reflects his views lost their connection to
the voice of the people - or seen in a more charitable light - wanted to lose it.
Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US
In the first
twelve months of his presidency, Obama also had to tackle some unpopular things.
Health reform as well as the troop surge in Afghanistan, among others issues,
were a hard-sell even for someone like Obama. Added to that is the “enthusiasm
gap,” i.e. the major disillusionment with which any president would likely have
to struggle. That’s partly why the Democrats got themselves into such a fine mess
in the Massachusetts Senate election.
In addition to Obama-bashing,
historical comparisons of presidents are a much-enjoyed discipline in Washington
these days. Such a comparison shows that according to the polls, only Ronald
Reagan fared worse than Obama after his first year in office. Yet in 1984, the
Californian won reelection by a wide margin. Nothing speaks against the same
thing happening in Obama’s case. For the final tally of the Obama presidency
will not be made after a year in office, but only in 2012.
