On Tuesday November 4th, 2008 history was made with the election of the first African American president and on January 20, 2009 he took office. During the time period before president Obama took office he chose cabinet members sooner than any other president in history. It seemed at the time like Obama had a plan and was ready hit the ground running once he was in office. Now about a year later after all the campaign promises and the debates, is President Obama living up to his word? Is he a better president than former president Bush?
So far on the list of successes for President Obama, he has worked rapidly to try and get America out of its economic depression. His cash for clunkers plan boosted auto sales for American companies. His bailout money helped get America out from the bottom of America’s economic depression. For all his effort and success I would give him an A on this issue.
Obama still faces many challenges one being the War in Afghanistan. He will soon have to decide whether or not to add additional troops to Afghanistan. In Iraq he must keep one of his campaign promises to withdraw troops. We will have to wait and see what Mr. Obama does in the coming weeks. However the House Armed Services chairman, Ike Skelton urged Obama to focus mainly on Afghanistan and not Iraq. He warned Obama not to make the same mistake as former President Bush made in 2003. In my opinion President Obama has made no major mistake in Afghanistan but has not made any great steps forward besides sending more troops to Afghanistan earlier this year so I would give him a C. I feel sending more young men and women will not help. The Soviet Union also tried a similar plan in the 1980’s but it failed.
Many would argue that President Obama’s greatest challenge right now by far would be the battle over healthcare. American healthcare is currently ranked 37th out of 191 countries world wide. President Obama does have a legitimate reason to want to reform healthcare in America. He promises not to raise taxes for people making under $250,000 in his healthcare plan. It is estimated that this plan will cost about $856 billion over the next 10 years. Many Americans believe that if President Obama’s plan is passed then there will be long lines in doctor’s offices and the overall quality of healthcare would go down. Others argue that it will insure that this plan will benefit the millions of families struggling without health insurance. According to Cnn.com 86.7 million American families were uninsured between 2007 and 2008. I feel that Obama is working hard and trying to be bipartisan with his proposed bill. I would give Obama B on this issue. Opponents still argue that under this plan people making over $280,000 a year and businesses will face the burden of the cost for this program.
I think President Obama’s biggest mistake was getting involved in a fight between a Harvard professor and a Cambridge police officer in which he called the police stupid for arresting long time friend Henry Louis Gates. This was unlike the President’s usual careful choice of words. This was a mistake, however, President Obama was quick to apologize for his choice of words after his original statement. Besides this isolated incident, I do not think President Obama had made any major mistakes.
Overall I think Obama deserves a B. He has faced the toughest economic recession since the Great depression and was left with two wars when he took office. Has he done everything right, no but at the same time no President is ever completely right because there is always someone who disagrees.
Kevin Choi
Staff Writer
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