President Barack Obama walks on to the stage during a campaign rally for New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine Sunday in Camden, N.J.
(Susan Walsh/AP)Photos (1 of 1)
One year after his election, what has Obama achieved?
Obama got off to a quick start. But almost one year after winning the presidency, his deeds are at risk of paling next to his aspirations.
By Linda Feldmann | Staff writer/ November 2, 2009 edition
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Rich Clabaugh/Staff
Washington
When Barack Obama campaigned for president, the first-term senator from Illinois set a high bar for himself. Making history as the first African-American to occupy the Oval Office almost seemed beside the point. In Reaganesque fashion, he wanted to transform America.
Then the financial markets collapsed. The economy teetered on the edge. By the time Mr. Obama was elected, almost one year ago, an anxious nation was ready for answers. Could Washington stave off a full-fledged depression? Though Obama would not take office for 2-1/2 months, Americans hung on his words as if he were already president.
Fast-forward to today, and President Obama faces debate about what exactly he has achieved since taking office. “Saturday Night Live” lampooned him as having checked no boxes on his “to do” list. The surprise announcement a week later that he had won the Nobel Peace Prize, an award he himself said he did not deserve, only enhanced the notion that Obama was more about hope and hype than substance.
Some academics defend him.
“He’s had a good first year,” says Ted Widmer, a presidential historian at Brown University in Providence, R.I., and a former speechwriter for President Bill Clinton. “Two of his biggest accomplishments are easy to overlook, but they were both important. He kept the financial crisis from becoming worse. And he vastly improved the way the rest of the world thinks about America.”
There’s no doubt that Obama got off to a fast start with Congress, passing a $787 billion stimulus package and expanded healthcare benefits for children. But on the most important issue, jobs and the economy, debate rages over whether the stimulus has been a success or a failure.
Healthcare reform and Afghanistan policy also hang in the balance. The resolution of both will say a lot about how Obama operates as president – and whether his first year is perceived as successful or not.
“A decent-seeming [health reform] would redound to Obama’s advantage and reduce the buzz over whether he is ‘tough enough’ and perhaps lead to a spike in public approval,” says Fred Greenstein, professor emeritus of politics at Princeton University in New Jersey.
Viewed through the prism of how “Obama so far” stacks up against past presidents, the issue of high expectations sits front and center. Twice since Obama’s election, Time magazine has run cover stories on what he can learn from Franklin Roosevelt, the last president to tackle both economic crisis and war. On one, Obama’s face is Photoshopped onto a famously jaunty picture of FDR. Obama himself has wrapped his image in the mantle of Abraham Lincoln.
Obama also set the bar high by imposing deadlines. On his first full day in office, he ordered the Guantánamo Bay prison camp closed in one year. In May, Obama was outmaneuvered in a congressional vote that bars the transfer of Guantánamo detainees to the US, hindering his ability to place them in other countries as well. The closure deadline is likely to be missed.
Obama also gave Congress an early August deadline on healthcare reform, which it missed by a mile. “No one’s afraid of Obama,” the charge went. Obama says he issued that deadline to keep Congress focused, but missing it opened him to charges of ineffectiveness.
David Axelrod, a senior Obama adviser, has allowed that the push for passage of healthcare by summer might have been too ambitious. “I might rethink that if we were to start over again,” he said Oct. 20 at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.
The real test will come by year’s end, when Obama needs to have something to show for all his effort before the midterm election season kicks into high gear.
Obama’s election itself raised expectations, says Russell Riley, a presidential historian at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. “There was a miracle at the ballot box, and people expect those miracles to continue later,” he says. “But [Obama officials] don’t help themselves by setting deadlines early on that they then don’t meet.”
Obama’s immediate predecessors can all claim some victories in their first nine months in office. George W. Bush cut taxes, passed the No Child Left Behind education reform, and pulled the nation together after 9/11. Bill Clinton passed a major stimulus and deficit-reduction program, was on his way to passing the North American Free Trade Agreement, and presided over a historic Arab-Israeli handshake.
George H.W. Bush’s term, in many ways Ronald Reagan’s “third term,” got credit for his successful stewardship of the end of the cold war. President Reagan launched his “revolution” by enacting the largest tax cuts in history.
It is the start of Jimmy Carter’s presidency that serves as Obama’s cautionary tale. Mr. Carter, like Obama, came in with an ambitious agenda – but in Carter’s case, it fell flat but for passage of the Panama Canal Treaties. His inner circle accompanied him from Georgia and did not mesh well with the barons of Capitol Hill, even though all were Democrats. Obama, in contrast, has peppered his administration with Clinton veterans, including chief of staff Rahm Emanuel.
Early failures don’t always portend a failed presidency.
“A president whom we all admire like John F. Kennedy had to get through the Bay of Pigs before he moved on to his record of accomplishment,” says Mr. Widmer of Brown University.
At least, he adds, Obama has not endured disaster, even if he has yet to pull off a signature piece of legislation in the vein of what Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson achieved early. In the first 100 days alone, Roosevelt pushed through 15 major bills, a record that matched the extraordinary circumstances. By August 1965, less than seven months after winning the presidency in his own right, Johnson had launched Medicare, Medicaid, and the Voting Rights Act.
Prevention of an economic collapse may be Obama’s greatest achievement to date. But at a Democratic Party fundraiser on Oct. 20, Obama expressed chagrin at “collective amnesia on the part of some folks” over where the economy stood nine months before. “We were seeing an economic crisis unlike any that we had seen in generations,” he said. The stimulus, he added, has “made a difference in the lives of families across America.”
Some historians are dubious that Obama deserves all the kudos for saving the economy.
“If he gets credit for that, you also have to give credit to [then-Treasury Secretary Henry] Paulson and Bush for rescuing the financial system in the fall,” says Alvin Felzenberg, author of a book on presidential ratings, “The Leaders We Deserved.”
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Obama’s early days in office: keep people guessing
His first 100 days in office were marked by the boldest intervention of government into the affairs of business since the Truman era.
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Comments
2. Marci Neal | 11.02.09
It is time for President Obama to make the presidency his own. Never in my memory has a new president spent so much time and effort in blaming the past president. President Reagan spent no time blaming President Carter. Nor did President Clinton blame President George HW Bush. Nor did President Bush spend time blaming President Clinton. It gives one a sense of pettiness on the part of the president. He campaigned for the job, he won it, now it is time for him to take responsibility for the results.
3. Jeff | 11.02.09
I agree with this article. I think he has a HUGE ego and needs it fed. He likes to be on TV and give speeches lol. Some think of him as a god it seems. Its quite scary. I worry about all the intervention into the private sector. I have never seen the government take over so much of it. That he has done. Oh and spent trillions of dollars and more on the way. I WAS a democrat. I am now leaning the other way to conservative. We need less government and less spending the dollar is falling and I fear the government is stepping all over the private sector and taking over. What did he do to earn all this praise? Before he was elected and now people think of him as the second coming. YIKES!!!
4. luvwknd | 11.02.09
At least Obama has stopped the fall the USA was undergoing with the Bush regime in office! We as a country are much better off now then we were a year ago!
RIP GOP!
6. Allen Holub | 11.02.09
12 months after the election, but he’s been in office for only eight. What’s with this “first year” stuff? Do we now have 8-month years?
7. ken | 11.02.09
one year from election but not one year from taking office, you are being slightly dishonest or at least misleading in your subject title. Although a title of 9 months in office what has he done doesn’t quite catch the eye.
8. connie salimar | 11.02.09
President Obama will go to history a ones of the worst President this country ever have, follow by Jimmy Carter, O convince by the time he left the presidency this country is going to be very divide and broke.
9. Dennis Schaefer | 11.02.09
If the president alone were able to make the changes you believe he was capable of, we wouldn’t call this a democracy, we’d call it a dictatorship. May I remind you of a simple fact. In the matter of health care, the Republicans have not offered one shred of debate, only criticism. Where’s THEIR plan? When they put forward their mid-term candidates, it should be EASY to shred them to pieces using the tactic of asking them what THEY have done to improve healthcare!
11. Rudy Haugeneder | 11.02.09
If tackling the recession with billions upon billions of tax dollars that have now shifted the word trillions from fiction to reality is considered a success, then America’s future ability to govern itself is in question.
Obama’s only real success to date was just continuing what George W. Bush had already begun — using the national mint’s printing press as a flow hose to restrict but not repair the economic damage.
As such, Obama has not accomplished anything of substance.
12. Ryan | 11.02.09
Interesting article. I wonder how much of Mr. Obama’s perceived ineffectiveness is due to the wariness with which much of the American public still views his vision for our nation. Although one wouldn’t know it from most of the press the President gets, a sizable portion of Americans remains unconvinced that his definition of progress is not another step backward. Until he can make that case in the way that Roosevelt, Reagan and even Bush did, his hopes for real change are just pipe dreams.
13. Humphster | 11.02.09
Has he done nothing? No. Has he achieved anything of note? Well, we do seem to be better liked around the world. In some ways being black has been an advantage for Obama. This way be an area in which his race worked to our benefit. But there are so many ways in which he couldn’t or didn’t live up to his promises. Perhaps the country gave him too much advantage - an almost super majority in Congress and wildly popular poll numbers. As a result the opposition had to scream louder and harder just to keep from being left out. The WH in return embarked on some foolish initiates to fight back - to try to silence the opposition.
So far, Obama is no more than a politically savvy nice guy.
15. Anita Hales | 11.02.09
The economy would rebound a lot faster if government would get out of the way instead of “punishing” the people who create jobs. Obama has only made European liberals happy. I wonder if the world in general really is happier with the US. They blame us for the financial crisis.
16. Mark H. Harris | 11.02.09
President Obama has demonstrated his abilities on a global scale as a transformational leader, (see Collins, Jim., Good to Great; or Ford, Leighton., Transforming Leadership).
Mr. Obama has fostered open debate, most of which has been very positive. He is a world thinker who has impressed world leadership and world culture in positive ways which have set the stage for possible world peace. He has positioned his administration (and America generally) as a relevant force for global change and human advancement. His early initiatives do indeed have great potential to calm world tensions, ease conflict, and to begin to advance values and further initiatives for building a better planet. He does in fact deserve the peace prize, and the committee responsible for selecting him has shown intense wisdom. To President Obama I say, “Keep up the great work”!
17. Danny Ray Baker | 11.02.09
Huh? What kind of calendar do you have? Your premise is no only simple minded & ludicrous but your math is incorrect….all the way around. Ask yourself “when did Obama take the oath?” (you say a year later) and if bush pulled our country together, “why is it so segemented now?”
Comparing Obama’s challenges to those of any other president (ever) is just plain ignorant.
This might be the silliest article I’ve ever read.
18. WTF | 11.02.09
Plese,Please, Please, back off and let him try to make sense of a mess no of his own doing. You People e.g. people in positions of entitlement make me absolutely sick when I hear these critiques. You create the mess, wipe your hands clean of the mess, lay it at the doorstep of a man who at worst is trying his best (16hr days, constant criticism) to fix all of the mistake our dubious presidents before him have made. Criticize all you want, you have that right, but our president has attempted to do more with less than bush did with all the marbles in his pocket. The good old boy system has to be held accountable for what you all have done.
19. George Douglas | 11.02.09
Obama is a total failure both as a president and as an American. He has embarrassed the citizens of this country by bowing to a Muslim king that supports terrorism and the debasement of women. He has embarrassed we veterans by apologizing for American actions and demeaning former President Bush in Europe and the middle east. He has lied about America when he said we were not a Christian nation. He has sucked up to people like Chavez and been cowardly with Iran. He has turned his back on Israel. He has embraced homosexuality, against the wishes of the Christians of this nation. He, along with his pro socialist staff and friends in congress, have put this nation into the biggest debt we have ever known. He and his liberal friends in Congress have had the government take over private companies and banks. Neither he or the liberal congress has listened when the people of this country that actually work for a living have told them to leave their health care alone. Obama is the worse thing that has ever happened to this country including both world wars. He is a disgrace to this nation and has made us the laughing stock to all world leaders. He is an arrogant egomaniac who was elected by people that wanted handouts of other citizens’ money.
20. robert karpuk | 11.02.09
g.w. bush entered the white house with a budget surplus, peace and a surging republican party. in his first year he signed a tax cut for the wealthy, no child left behind which he never fully funded, and ignored terrorist threats to the u.s. resulting in 9/11. we suffered the worst terrorist attack in our history on his watch. please don’t gloss over that first year accomplishment.
by the time he left office we had the worst deficit in history, were involved in 2 wars without resolution in sight, an economy on the verge of collapse and the republican party destroyed.
obama entered the white house and has now taken us from the brink of economic depression, is working on health care reform and has generally returned the reputation of the u.s. to its pre-bush status. and we have had no terrorist attacks on the u.s.
by these standards, obama has been brilliant and only beginning.
21. Christian | 11.02.09
Its too bad the economy faltered when it did. I think what the world really needed was an anti-war president and instead we got a wait-lets-think-about-this president. I would’ve liked to see us at least start to repair the mistake that was and is the Iraq War.
22. Attikai | 11.02.09
That’s odd, I would have considered steering the nation’s economy away from the cliff of a second great depression as being a sizable achievement.
23. Willie S-C | 11.02.09
Well George we can both agree that Obama is bad for America but I find your reasoning to be a bit simple minded and reactionary. To begin with many Christians do not want their gay children (yes Christians have gay children)discriminated against. If you have true Christian compasion then you can see the beauty in people of all creed and color.
War is not Christian. Remember Thou Shalt not Kill? Pretty clear the Bible is on that. And let’s not forget the huge finacial strain that our illegal wars have caused this nation.
Oh and giving a trillion dolaars to banks is about as far from socialism as you can get. If Obama was a true socialist then I would support his actions. Instead he has shown himself to be completely beholden to the big money interests that gave their support to his candidacy.
24. Abderrahman Ulfat | 11.05.09
There is no question about the fact that President Obama faced the most daunting challenges upon his arrival at the White House. A turnaround in the US economy is not going to come easy, although he was not as frugal as he should have been in his first stimulus package. His zigzagging on the Palestine Problem will undo the goodwill he has earned in the Islamic world. He would be wise not to make the Afghan war a protracted one. I think he should give the Afghan peace movement a chance to play its role in solving the problem by the Afghan, Noam Chomsky has wisely advised that course. I think Obama, contrary to his predecessor, means well for the world while keenly aware of US interests.
25. sobey | 11.17.09
obama has achived what most other presidents didn’t attempt to do he has truly divided this country and set it back to before the 60’s he has undone all of MLK had acomplished he has ruined the finacial sector he has placed america into debt beyond repair he has made most people poor and the already poor poorer he is wonderful at building his ego he is wonderful at throughing people under the bus when the don’t benifit him he as an amazingly bad liar he has the worst taste in people and please don’t get me started on his she devil wife he is sooooo whipped please he is a narsasite of the biggest kind he is secrative a user of the poor funny how the people he bought votes from the poor and rich black folks he now has forgotten about in favor of the larger number of illigal hispanics sure he’s preparing for the next election ! he is NOT one of us he is a trator and instigator just plain evil harmful to america please people pick another hero to idolize this guy is an elite empty suit who will do nothing for anyone but himself and his band of theives.Wake up America.
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1. jackie kidd | 11.02.09
I am totally confused about the time measurement the msm and fox are using for this President’s time in office. If he took office on January 20 2009 and today is November 2, my calculation says he has been in office nine months and thirteen days. Am I missing something here? I am disturbed that he is expected to turn this country around, fulfull all his campaignn promises in nine months and thirteen days. I guess Americans did believe that he was born in a manger and can walk on water.