The First 100 Days
Apr 29th, 2009 by David Anderson
How will I grade the President’s first 100 days tomorrow?
The grade on the first 100 days has two parts, he did what he said he would do during the first 100 days minus the silly lobbyist stuff. I also ding him for not filling key positions in a timely manner. I give him an A- for performance.
I give him a D+ for substance. The negatives are clear. The trillion dollar deficit budget is atrocious. His social policy is abysmal. His blame America tour was appalling. His quiet abandonment missile defense, cut backs on troop recruitment, treating terrorism like a legal problem, and the lack of a border policy are disturbing. His energy policy borders on insanity. Other than that, thumbs up.
I give him points for not abandoning the war in Iraq, but working to get us out as carefully as “we carelessly got in”. I give him points for trying to win Afghanistan so we can leave a stable nation. I give him points for not being afraid to pull the trigger on the pirates. I also give him credit for moving on housing and trying to stimulate jobs by ensuring local infrastructure projects weren’t canceled.
“but working to get us out as carefully”
His “plan” to get us out of Iraq is the agreement that the Bush Administration negotiated last year, except that Obama may have 50,000 troops leftover instead of the 35,000 the Bush Administration projected.
Yeah, ain’t it sweet. Reality has a way of trumping politics. I still have to give him points because that actually took leadership to swallow hard and accept the reality on the ground.
I’d give him an “F” for “forclosure.”
As for Iraq the bottom line is that what we have now for an Iraq pull out is what was negotiated by the Bush Administration, plus and extra 15,000 American troops.