24 Apr What does America think of President Obama’s first 100 days?
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Many Presidential Scholars will tell you that the first 100 days can really set the stage for a Presidency. So that may help to explain why President Obama has taken on so much at once. Or you can just look back to late September, when Senator John McCain was ready to pull out of one of the Presidential debates. Then Senator Obama said, “Presidents need to be able to do more than one thing at a time.” Looks like now President Obama is one person who also ‘walks the walk.’
According to one report, a top White House aide says of the 100-day mark: “This isn’t Biblical. You don’t do 100 days and rest,” but acknowledges that President Obama’s first 100 days have been the most productive since FDR’s. When it comes to the economy, President Obama has passed a $787 billion dollar stimulus package, protected homeowners with Housing recovery measures, and put laws on the books aiming to prevent another financial collapse like the one that happened under the Bush Administration. The President has also signed into law a bill that provides 4 million uninsured children with health care, set a fixed timetable for withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq, ordered the closing of Guantanamo Bay prison, and ended the use of so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques.”
The American people have noticed all of the work the President has done, and according to polls, they think the country is better off for it. An Associated Press-Gfk poll released yesterday shows that for the first time since January of 2004, more Americans than not say that the country is headed in the right direction. The “right direction” poll number is up 8 points since February, and a remarkable 31 points since October, the month before President Obama’s election.
According to the poll, most Americans say President Obama is changing things at about the right speed. Only about a third say he’s trying to change too many things too quickly.
Seven in ten Americans say it is reasonable to expect it to take longer than a year to see the results of President Obama’s economic policies.
Seven in ten Americans also say that President Obama understands the concerns of ordinary Americans. That’s a sharp contrast to former President Bush, who won re-election in 2004 despite the fact that 54 percent of voters on that Election Day said he cared more about large corporations.
The thing that stands out the most to me in all of this, is the huge increase in the American people’s confidence. As previously stated, the “right direction” poll number is up 8 points since February, and an astounding 31 points since October, the month before President Obama’s election. And any good Economist will tell you, the Economy will start to get back on track once the American people get their confidence back. It’s only 100 days, but according to you the American people, we’re “on the right track.”
Mark “Marky Mark” Grimaldi The Leslie Marshall Show |