A Brief Evaluation of Obama’s First Year

I could write a short book, or at least a very long entry running down a laundry list of things that I would like to point out about the first year of the Obama administration. But of course, I would never do that to you. Instead, let me run through a couple of points of interest from the past year, as well as my personal thoughts and my own letter grade for his administration (spoiler alert: my marking falls short of Obama’s self-granted B+).

Healthcare Reform:

President Obama’s ineffectiveness in making substantial progress in healthcare reform is both a curse and a blessing. It is a blessing, in that his uncompromising black-and-white vision of this situation has not yet been imposed upon the country, but a curse in that it indicates a president whose ability to effectively administer and inspire his constituents is dismal at best. I will say, in his defense, that a $19 billion dollar appropriation to create a comprehensive electronic medical records database as part of the stimulus package was both necessary and timely. It will save a tremendous amount on convenience and compliance costs. Unfortunately, those costs don’t make up for the $1 trillion cost of nationalizing healthcare. Grade: D+

Economic Stimulus:

The stimulus package was obviously the cornerstone of President Obama’s economic recovery plan. Unfortunately, it was $787 billion dollars that went to about 787 billion different places and had no sort of coherence. This makes it very hard to hold anyone accountable for the oversight of this monetary distribution, since it is impossible to keep track of every project it funded. In addition, unemployment doesn’t appear to be slowing down any time soon. Granted, tax credits and flexible dollars appropriated to state governments will help alleviate financial frustration at the lowest levels. However, the results have not been particularly visible and the idea of a second stimulus is still around. My biggest issue with the plan is its lack of a clear focus. In the past, economic stimulus plans have focused on one major national project that was visible, accountable and clearly created tons of jobs. Best of all, they restored consumer confidence which plays nicely into the fact that the economy is based largely on consumer psychology. These plans included an interstate highway program, the trans-continental railroad and even things like the Apollo program and SDI. Next time, try something the American people can believe in. Grade: D

Climate Change:

Two issues are at play here: the environment and American credibility on international issues. After not participating in the Kyoto Protocol, all eyes were on America for real participation in the fight against global climate change. Whether you believe the science or not (and personally, I am skeptical), this was an ample opportunity for President Obama to demonstrate his charismatic effectiveness on the international level that won him a domestic election. And what did Copenhagen produce? A non-binding resolution that contained only trace amounts of Obama’s initial goals for climate change (namely, a looser cap on temperature increases and no stipulations about emission reductions). Yes, it was a big step forward. But nothing is guaranteed. This is a situation where, again, I won’t complain about his inability to make policy since I wasn’t a fan of it in the first place, but the lack of effectiveness concerns me. Grade: C

Closing of Guantanamo Bay:

Our president moved terrorists from Cuba to Illinois. Great. Grade: F

Afghanistan:

I, again, will defend the president here in stating how pleased I am that he essentially ignored popular opinion and many in Congress by calling for an additional 30,000 troops on the ground. Gen. McChrystal and the joint chiefs of staff ought to be his top military advisors in this situation. Not either of the aforementioned parties. I don’t understand his insistence upon declaring a date for withdrawal, however. Not to sound like John McCain or Sean Hannity here, but really – do you really think that you aren’t giving the enemy any sort of advantage when you announce a withdrawal date? These people are masters of playing hide-and-seek. If you don’t think they can hang on for another 18 months, think again. Grade: B-

Overall grade: D+

I hate to say “I told you so,” but…I guess I just did. Obama’s ascendence to office based on nothing but a few hollow phrases foreshadowed to all Americans with any thread of common sense that ineffectiveness, frustration and achromotrichia would lie ahead for our young president. I hope that his first year has taught him that this isn’t the campaign trail, and he’s going to have to make some policy concessions if he expects to be re-elected. He also ought to have learned that he spent all of his political capital on the campaign trail and his 0-3 record in elections argued as a referendum on his administration (namely, the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial elections and the Massachusetts Senate race) indicate that he can’t have his way as uniformly as he might like. I think Joe Biden put it best when speaking of then-Senator Obama in 2007 when he said that “the presidency is not something that lends itself to on-the-job training.”

Eerily prophetic, Joe. Really.