100 Days In, A Presidency Still Undefined

Analysis: President Obama’s Term May Have Reached A Milestone, But It’s Too Early To Come To Any Conclusions

(CBS)  Steve Chaggaris is CBS News' Political Director.

Barack Obama hits the 100-day mark as president on Wednesday amid breathless assessments and too-numerous-to-mention scorecards. The day may be a “Hallmark holiday,” as White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs describes the milestone, but it nonetheless offers members of the media their first real opportunity to take stock of a new administration.

Yet while an important opportunity to contextualize what the president has done so far has arrived, it is unquestionably way too premature to draw conclusions about the highs and lows of an Obama presidency.

A perfect historic example is what was written about a previous president’s first 100 days:

“In public, the president has shown Washington a low-key style, a tone he thinks America wants in Washington. It has showed in his measured public assessments of congressional foes who have assailed his efforts. ... This administration has done a lot better than some past administrations simply because it has been so focused,’” Brookings Institution scholar Stephen Hess told the Austin American-Statesman.

“This has been an administration of astonishing professionalism, very remarkable,” Princeton University presidential historian Fred I. Greenstein told the Los Angeles Times.

“He also made some very deft moves using his personal style and charm -- volunteering to go up and address retreats of House and Senate Democrats," American Enterprise Institute scholar Norm Ornstein told the Detroit News.

These quotes could easily have been generated in the current recap of Mr. Obama’s first 100 days.

However, they were originally printed in April 2001 about President George W. Bush’s first 100 days.

Those positive assessments were far out of the minds of Americans 8 years later: President Bush left office in January with a 22 percent approval rating in the CBS News/New York Times poll.

No one knows what the next 1,361 days of Mr. Obama’s first term will bring, just like no one on April 29, 2001 could have predicted 9/11 and its aftermath, the war in Iraq, the financial industry meltdown or Hurricane Katrina.

Ruth Marcus nailed it in Sunday’s Washington Post: “The first 100 days of a presidency are like the opening chapter of an unfinished novel. It will be possible, by the end, to look back and see the foreshadowing of character traits and plot twists, but for now it’s too early to predict what direction the story will take.”

And while it might be tempting for some to look at President Obama’s 68 percent approval rating in this week’s CBS News/New York Times poll and marvel at his performance to date, it bears noting that these first 100 days represent a mere 7 percent of the duration of his first term.

"It's not like switching a light on and saying, 'OK it's all set,’” former NFL coach Bill Parcells said at the beginning of the 1989 season, after his New York Giants showed some progress following a playoff-less 1988. "This is a new group and we're in transition. ... I'm not ready to put them in [the Football Hall of Fame in] Canton yet."

So without putting him in the Hall of Fame, what can be safely said about Mr. Obama’s first 100 days?

Well, there’s no question that President Obama has forged ahead aggressively in the face of multiple crises. And there’s no question that he’s been extremely productive - more productive than any president since the “First 100 Days” was coined under FDR in 1933.

Domestically, Mr. Obama has signed a $787 billion stimulus bill, announced a $1.1 trillion financial and auto industry bailout packages, sacked the CEO of GM, unveiled a plan to help homeowners pay and refinance their mortgages, expanded health insurance coverage for children and legal protection for women seeking equal pay, loosened the ban on embryonic stem cell research, and is on the verge of seeing Congress move ahead with his $3.5 trillion budget plan.

In terms of national security, he ordered the shutdown of the Guantanamo Bay prison, set August 2010 as the date to withdraw all combat troops from Iraq, committed 21,000 more troops to Afghanistan and paved the way for negotiations with Russia to limit nuclear weapons.

As for foreign policy, he’s reached out to Russia, Iran, Venezuela and Cuba, visited Canada, Europe, Mexico and Turkey and tried to sway U.S. allies into supporting a global economic stimulus plan and attempted to get NATO allies to help out in Afghanistan.

And he’s also had to deal with his share of unpredicted crises: the Somali pirate saga, North Korea’s missile launch and the current swine flu concerns.

He’s also had his share of bumps and bruises: the withdrawals of the Tom Daschle and Judd Gregg cabinet nominations, the AIG bonus flap, Republican criticism of his economic stimulus proposal on the heels of his full-court press for GOP support of it, Democratic criticism of his Iraq withdrawal plan and bipartisan criticism of his budget proposal.

Ultimately, it’s the results of many of these moves that will define this president.

Will his economic stimulus plan actually stimulate the economy? Will his emphasis on the war in Afghanistan shut down al Qaeda? Will the dump trucks of money being spent bailing out the financial and auto industries pay dividends? Will his efforts to reach out to estranged world leaders result in improved relations with those countries? Will he be able to overhaul the health care system and get a comprehensive climate change bill through Congress?

“I think the American people ... are more concerned with what we're going to do each and every day going forward to continue the progress that we started in the first part of this administration,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Monday.

And it’s the result of what the Obama administration started in these first 100 days that’ll add up to the president’s final grade - one to be determined by the American people on Election Day 2012.

[krzeaz]

Obama the Marxist. The downfall of the United States. Lamentable.

[iam4honesty]

The republican cannot be reasoned with. We should keep in mind that when we as Democrats and Liberals tried to take the high road and reason with republicans it was treated as a sign of weakness and emboldened them.

Do not every back off, do not ever give them a break. They are extreme right wing believers and will ruin our country with their 12th Century ideas and above all their consistant hate.
Posted by johndevinejr


Exactly!

This is one 'dead horse' that cannot be trusted. The republican party as is has evolved must be completely destroyed. We need a two party system, but until a right wing emerges that turns it's back on the fascists, reactionary agenda, patriotic Americans can not afford to ease the pressure on the likes of Bush, Cheney, Wolfowitz, Pearle, Rumsfield, Rove, etc. These are the architects of the most evil and corrupt government in the history western civilization.

[sjc_1]

"President George W. Bush?s first 100 days...."

Those days were Cheney plotting in secret with the oil boys on how to get Iraqi oil and the White House pushing on tax breaks for the wealthy patrons. Times were simpler then, no problem existed that a war could not fix.

[noloyalisti]

The Republ CONS were WRONG ABOUT EVERYTHING. Their ideology is wrong and they have done nothing good for the country since before Reagan. Their party of death is obsolete and no longer needed in America.

[truthseeker60]

NAME ONE THING GEORGE BUSH AND THE REPUBLICAN PARTY DID RIGHT

JUST ONE. .
Posted by johndevinejr at 9:51 AM : Apr 29, 2009

Two actually, Stolen Elections and got away with it.

[noloyalisti]

No Joe, you should look at the facts. The invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq were for oil (all the other excuses were lies). Big corporations have become bad actors, just look at the killer invasions, the bank fiasco and the swine flu created by de-regulation and outsourcing to make a buck. And by the way, there are plenty of jobs created by small businesses. There were plenty of better jobs until the big corporations started in their current rampage of rape and pillage.

[Allthatshines]

My grade for our "mighty leader" is a "D" .......but I thought you would get that "o insightful one" Obama just hasn't impressed me at all.

[johndevinejr]

WOW.....talk about being totally brainwashed by the left.......to hate the very companies and corporations who provide a paychecks for millions of Americans.....big corporations "stole your tax money and started wars for oil"........should I laugh ?
Posted by Joe-NY-4 at 9:46 AM : Apr 29, 2009

No, you shouldn't laugh. You should educate yourself. republican failures, dishonesty and incompetence are what brought us the crisis we are in.

If everyone doesn't get to have at least enough money to buy more than food and lodging, the economy stops.

NAME ONE THING GEORGE BUSH AND THE REPUBLICAN PARTY DID RIGHT

JUST ONE.


.

[johndevinejr]

"A Presidency Still Undefined"

Is it because someone forgot to put it on his teleprompter?
Posted by ritewingman at 8:34 AM : Apr 29, 2009


Just wanted to let you know that Arlen Specter is now a Democrat. Pretty soon Al Franken will take his seat.

Remember when repubs wouldn't even allow the Democrats to hold a hearing?
Remember when Democrats were forced to use the basement for unofficial hearings?

That is the same level of fairness that republicans should be afforded.


.

[johndevinejr]

Well, at lease he is paying off his debts to his supporters, but at the expense of everyone else. Does he not care about the next generations and the debt his is creating? He has done a few things that scare the cr** out of me. My grade ......D.
Posted by Allthatshines at 9:34 AM : Apr 29, 2009

I think your insights rate and F. Awarding yourself a D is more than you deserve.


.

[noloyalisti]

Yes, we need to back Obama as he takes on the big corporations that run America. We can start by contacting our elected officials and tell them that we need universal single payer health care. We will get better care for more people at less cost.

And we need to unite with labor (the real source of wealth) and pass the Employee Free Choice Act to permanently battle the big corporations, the real enemy of America. They outsource our jobs, don't pay taxes, steal our tax money and start wars for oil.

[Allthatshines]

Well, at lease he is paying off his debts to his supporters, but at the expense of everyone else. Does he not care about the next generations and the debt his is creating? He has done a few things that scare the cr** out of me. My grade ......D.

[johndevinejr]

Beating dead horses is not attractive when anyone does it, but especially when it is coming from the supposed victor. Good grief.
Posted by itsjustathought at 8:10 AM : Apr 29, 2009

The republican cannot be reasoned with. We should keep in mind that when we as Democrats and Liberals tried to take the high road and reason with republicans it was treated as a sign of weakness and emboldened them.

Do not every back off, do not ever give them a break. They are extreme right wing believers and will ruin our country with their 12th Century ideas and above all their consistant hate.

[johndevinejr]

I say, beat the Republican down so the Evil Monster of Hate, Prejudice, Bigots, War-Mongers never rise up again. Do not think for one moment that the Limbaughs, Hannity's, Coulters, Kristols asre going to let it go.
Posted by endeaver-2009 at 9:18 AM : Apr 29, 2009

I agree. I have noticed they are becomming more and more irrational every day.

[TominNY]

"Still Undefined"?

I guess that is why a Senior Analyst gets paid the Big Bucks, huh?

This simple fact is that Barack Obama is doing more in a single day, than Bush did in a few weeks time. The contrast is stark and undeniable to all but the most dimwitted observer.

Time will tell the story to its fullest degree later on, but for now it is clear that this President is the best thing that has happened to the USA in a long, long time.

[hungry1968-15]

THE GREATEST HOAX in American History, is how the Democrapic Party managed to elect Barack Obama.
Posted by buarneyfwank at 7:58 AM : Apr 29, 2009





Says the republican supporter that just watched as his party presided over several of the greatest thefts that have ever occurred, and either participated in it, or stood by and let it happen while doing nothing to stop it.

[edward1975-2009]

But what we can say is that the transparency, change and bi-partisanship hasn't happened. And we can also say that his economical thinking is as flawed as what preceded him. And we can also say that he, as promised, has taken us into another war, just as Iraq was winding down. And not one major newspaper has called him on it. That's what we can say.

[jopuschek]

Define "productive".

[johndevinejr]

There is nothing whatever that Obama could do to gain the approval of the Far Right. They still cling to the obviously failed policies of Bush.

They ignore reality whenever it clashes with their beliefs.

However they have NO IDEAS. They propose only what has already failed and condemn everything else. That seems irrational to me.

[johndevinejr]

Spending trillions on Earmarks and moving as fast as you can to move the country to a radical left position or the Media calls Socialism. That sums it up.
Posted by enriquieGonzales at 6:42 AM : Apr 29, 2009


Perhaps it is the 22% of Americans who approved of Bush that have moved just a little to the right of Mussolini