Tomorrow marks the official 100th day since Barack Obama became president, and it has been quite a ride. News agencies have been following the “first 100” obsessively since election day, under the belief that how Obama spends the first few months of his presidency would be a barometer of how he will perform the rest of his term.
For those wondering, the tradition of monitoring the first 100 days came from Franklin Roosevelt’s impressive showing during the first 100 of his presidency. Faced with a massive economic depression, he nonetheless passed the first iteration of the New Deal, as well as saw Congress pass 15 important pieces of legislation, all within the first few months of his term.
“The initial storm set a tone for the rest of Roosevelt’s first term: constant action, bold experimentation, unprecedented expansion of the authority of the federal government,” said the L.A. Times in an April 21 article titled “Measuring Obama by FDR’s yardstick.” Ever since, news media have gladly jumped on the 100 days wagon, as it makes for a snazzy reporting slogan.
Well, Obama has certainly given the media plenty of things to sink their teeth into. In just a short recap, we have seen him pass an unprecedented $787 billion stimulus plan, put forth legislation that expanded health care benefits for children, and legislation that ensured equal pay for women. Additionally, he kept the section of the budget that would require Congress to introduce major health care reform at some point this year.
So what can we glean about the future from this preview of Obama’s term-yet-to-come? Well, nothing. 100 days is a tiny fragment of the four years he will serve total. You’d get a better prediction off of a palm reader. Look at Nixon: He won in a landslide and had a high approval rating in his infamous second term, and we all know how that turned out. On the other hand, Bill Clinton started out below sixty percent approval, and his presidency ended up seeing unprecedented economic growth and productivity.
Most of Obama’s policies in general have been a reversal of previous policy, and they couldn’t have come soon enough. Despite what every conservative pundit will try to tell you otherwise, the last eight years were a disaster of astonishing proportions. At 2008’s close, we had more than 4,000 U.S. soldiers and approaching 100,000 Iraqi civilians dead, close to the entire world pissed at us, and the beginnings of an economic recession we have since all become intimately familiar with.
Obama enters his 100th day enjoying a 64 percent general approval rating – slightly better than the last six presidents down the line. He also shows ratings in the mid-seventies in Gallup polls with questions such as, “Does he care about the American people?” or “Does he understand the troubles of average Americans?” For now, it seems Obama still has the nation’s trust. But that trust will not last forever.
Arbitrary or not, to the public, the 100th day is the unofficial time when Obama must take ownership of the situation; as the saying goes, “the honeymoon is over.” There are those who may accuse Obama of simply floating by on the safety net of the previous administration’s mistakes. Whether that’s fair or not isn’t the point; the U.S. populace is an impatient beast, and it has held its hunger at bay as long as it can.
It is preemptive to think that one could judge Obama’s whole presidency based on his first 100 days, but he is quickly running out of cushion time. Very soon, people are going to be expecting results, and God help him if he doesn’t deliver. He’s still got a shot; the economy is only in a gradual descent now, rather than a sharp, catastrophic nosedive, and for the most part, the world believes that, as he said in his inauguration speech, “we are ready to lead again.”
“It is the second 100 days that will give a much more comprehensive test of President Obama’s approach, his resilience – and his effectiveness,” said John King in an April 26 article on CNN.com. It will be these next months – really, the rest of this year – that will truly tell us if we made the right choice. Personally, I still believe we have. Obama may not have done a flawless job, but he has made a strong start in the right direction. But good intentions will only get us so far. Obama must prove he is worthy of the trust we have placed in him, and the sooner, the better.
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