Few Successes in Obama's Ambitious Agenda

(CBS)  During last year's campaign, candidate Obama laid out an ambitious agenda, a lot of which remains undone as President Obama ponders whether to send more troops to Afghanistan and struggles to get health care reform through Congress - even though he has a majority on Congress.

"I'm confident we are going to get health care reform passed this year," Mr. Obama has said.

In a Rose Garden address Monday, the president made his 35th direct push for health care reform, the most visible issue on a long, unfinished agenda, reports CBS News White House Correspondent Bill Plante.

It made him the target this weekend on "Saturday Night Live."

"It's clear what I've done so far and that is - nothing, nada," actor Fred Armisen said while impersonating Mr. Obama during the opening sketch of last weekend's show. (See full sketch below.)

Congress passed the president's $787 billion stimulus package, but unemployment continues to rise, currently at 9.8 percent.

Financial reforms is incomplete.

Climate control legislation is incomplete.

Mr. Obama promised to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay by Jan. 20, 2010, - that's unlikely

Afghanistan policy is incomplete.

"CBS Evening News" Special Report: Afghanistan - The Road Ahead

And get the 2016 Summer Olympics for Chicago - failed.

Political analyst John Dickerson, host of CBSNews.com's "Washington Unplugged", says all this is too much to hope for in less than a year.

"The earliest people will be able to say the president hasn't delivered on his promises will be if he can't pass universal health care," Dickerson said.

Maybe so, but political oddsmakers are already predicting a loss for Democrats of 15 to 40 seats in Congress. The view from the White House, so far, is rosier. One senior official put it this way, he said, "It's like you might as well consult the Farmer's Almanac."

[valentin73]

Relax People, there will soon be another stimulus program: CASH FOR FLUNKERS, getting more people to stay in school and in college (ahem).....The better the peopel, the better the economy, ....who cares what the acting president is doing OR not.....

[r_mcdonald1]

The President appears to be an empty suit. The SNL skit of 10-03-09 nailed it as to the record of Mr. Obama.

The downside is that, unless there is significant resistance by the members of the Democratic party, we will have a health care package that the majority of Americans DO NOT WANT shoved down our throats.

The only hope is that everything that the Congress saddles us with as taxpayers can be reversed by a "new" Congress before the bills are scheduled to be enacted.

Health care reform begins at the state level, the feds DO NOT NEED to interject themselves into the matter. Tort reform begins at the state level, and the Feds do not need to interject themselves into the matter.

These members of the Congress need to focus on the matters that matter the most to the American people. Wars on 2 fronts are wearing the people down, and out. Troops need our support, but they need to be able to fight the war(s) at a level that achieves success. They are not the policeman to the world. Nor are we the rebuilders of nations in our likeness. If we were, then the nations we are building, based upon present conditions, are doomed to failure if they adopt our form of government. Their resources will not support the greed of government.

No, this adminisrtation has done nothing to ensure our continued success as a nation, as a free people. Based upon its visible actions, it has done quite the contrary and the American people have had enough of this government in its present form.

Mr. Obama was right, it is time for a change - and he's not it.

[chicagoguy49]

Hard to get much accomplished when the Republican party has no interest in doing anything to fix the myriad of problems our country faces. They are aided by a handful of weak Democrat Senators who are in the pockets of Washington lobbyists.

Campaign finance reform stands no chance of addressing the lobbying problem as the fox is in the hen house. Noone on either side of the aisle wants to take this issue on.

Add to that..The Senate is an archaic body that allows a few senators from states with minor percentages of the population the same vote as those representing states with the vast majority of our countries inhabitants.

[endurorob_5]

jerry1a October 6, 2009 12:02 PM EDT
Ridiculous..in the first hundred days this happened...

* Passing the "largest" economic stimulus bill in American history.
- An unneccesary waste of tax payer money.
* Ordering the closing of Guantanamo Bay military detention facility- unlikeley to happen on schedule if at all and abolishing "enhanced interrogation techniques. - Effectivley aiding those who wish to do us harm"
* Setting a fixed timetable for withdrawing U.S. combat forces from Iraq. - Unlikely to happen.
* Ordering 21,000 additional troops to Afghanistan and enlisting, with modest new assistance, European allies in a new multi-layered strategy there and in Pakistan. - Currently indecisive about how to continue in Afghanastan even after generals have made recomendations.
* "Returning science to its rightful place" by lifting the Bush restrictions on federally funded embryonic stem cell research. - A definite positive.
* Signing laws to expand children's health insurance (financed by a 61-cent per pack increase in the federal cigarette tax the adviser did not tout). - An eccesive and in my opinion immoral tax.
* Signing a law meant to improve the ability of women who allege pay discrimination to sue their employer. - Another positive.
* Diminishing the role of lobbyists in the White House - He has put former lobbyists in high level positions so this is a lie.
* "Forge a meaningful statement from the United Nations" criticizing North Korea's launch of a ballistic missile. Everyone critisized that launch.
* Lifting travel and remittance restrictions for Cuban Americans who seek to travel more frequently to the island and send more US currency to their immediate family. - A small step to normalizing realtions with Cuba. We have normal realtions with China so it is absurd not to have them with Cuba.
* Engaging world leaders in Europe, Turkey, Latin American and the Caribbean with "strength and humility." - Bowing to the King of Saudi Arabia and kissing the behinds of Russia and China is not showing strength.

Perhaps after the absolute awful mess left by George Bush, we could give the man a bit of time to fix it. - And the obligitory liberal blame Bush tactic.

[johndevinejr]

I guess then we should take the republican tactic of pretending that the situation we are in is the result of Obama's actions. The reality is the republican party created this mess over the course of eight years, it certainly won't be fixed in the first 8 months of the Obama Administration.
But why start dealing with reality now?

[jerry1a]

Ridiculous..in the first hundred days this happened...

* Passing the "largest" economic stimulus bill in American history.
* Ordering the closing of Guantanamo Bay military detention facility and abolishing "enhanced interrogation techniques."
* Setting a fixed timetable for withdrawing U.S. combat forces from Iraq.
* Ordering 21,000 additional troops to Afghanistan and enlisting, with modest new assistance, European allies in a new multi-layered strategy there and in Pakistan.
* "Returning science to its rightful place" by lifting the Bush restrictions on federally funded embryonic stem cell research.
* Signing laws to expand children's health insurance (financed by a 61-cent per pack increase in the federal cigarette tax the adviser did not tout).
* Signing a law meant to improve the ability of women who allege pay discrimination to sue their employer.
* Diminishing the role of lobbyists in the White House
* "Forge a meaningful statement from the United Nations" criticizing North Korea's launch of a ballistic missile.
* Lifting travel and remittance restrictions for Cuban Americans who seek to travel more frequently to the island and send more US currency to their immediate family.
* Engaging world leaders in Europe, Turkey, Latin American and the Caribbean with "strength and humility."

Perhaps after the absolute awful mess left by George Bush, we could give the man a bit of time to fix it.

[NewYork-Joey]

Congress passed the president's $787 billion stimulus package, but unemployment continues to rise, currently at 9.8 percent.

Financial reforms are incomplete.

Card check - failed.

Cap & Trade - a failure and bad idea from the start.

Climate control legislation is incomplete.

Mr. Obama promised to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay by Jan. 20, 2010, - that's unlikely .

Afghanistan policy is incomplete and filled with in-decision.

And get the 2016 Summer Olympics for Chicago - failed.

Healthcare takeover - stopped dead in it's tracks.

Can you smell success ? (for Republicans, that is)

[futureofanimals]

There is a problem with the election guesses, after all the Bush administration did little to stop and added to the mess Obama has to deal with. Is the GOP going to do a 180 and find a modern day Teddy Roosevelt or will independents win many seats? Elections are a year away, so all guesses are wild guesses. History shows that Nixon turned around his popularity by ending the draft and the Viet Nam war, so Obama could have late successes to change the outcome of congress elections if the GOP might think it has a chance. The US might be more divided, which would change all present guesses. The hiding behind the flag trick (a favorite conservative trick) may easily be useless if the people have lost faith in what the government has done to the constitution and corporations which might have more power than the democratic republic this county was designed to be.

[Marc_1986]

@futureofanimals

I see it a different way. The GOP doesn't have to do anything to regain power, it can just sit back and watch liberals and blue dogs fight each other all day.

We don't need a modern day Roosevelt, we need a modern day Reagan. With that in mind we need to learn from our mistakes and institute regulation that will prevent collapses down the road in the banking/housing/healthcare industry etc.

[pubsrtoast]

Marc, the GOP isn't going anywhere unless they start offering A coherent vision about where they want to take this country and deregulated laissez faire economics has pretty well been discredited in the eyes of those that have lost their homes and their jobs. Personal health accounts and personal unemployment accounts and personal retirement accounts (Roves ownership society) only works if people are working and making enough to provide for their essentials. The data on job creation and payroll is trending against that supposition.

[NewYork-Joey]

by pubsrtoast October 6, 2009 10:57 AM EDT
You have to hand it to Republicans.
___________________

That's right, give props....LOL

For such an "irrelevant" party in the minority, we have dismantled your party's ambitions to destroy this country......America wins when Democrats are stopped

[pubsrtoast]

I give props with a caveat Joe. Your party has done nothing to address the demographic forces that will continue to make it smaller and more irrelevant with each passing year. You can only use senate rules to stymie the majority for so long, eventually things will change and when they do, you and the rest of Beck's minions will be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century.

[Marc_1986]

@pubsrtoast

You are correct. Democracy fails when the majority realizes they can vote themselves benefits. Dark times are certainly ahead for America.

[babooph]

I get much wrong,but my prediction that the democrats would have to be the ones to stop Obama from trying fixing the mess ,seems to have been right on the money.

[pubsrtoast]

You have to hand it to Republicans. In Bush's first year, with only 51 senators they were so successful in pushing Bush's toxic agenda that Jim Jeffords had to switch parties to avoid a total train wreck. All we have gotten from the Democratic majority, with 60 senators is the nonsense that everything has to be bipartisan with the party that wants no part of a Democratic success.