One Down, Three To Go

Today marks the end of the first year in office for President Obama. Good. That means that three years from today we will have a new president. I think the election yesterday in Massachusetts is a harbinger of things to come for the Democratic party, not only in the near future, but for the remainder of Obama's only term.

Not long ago Obama gave himself as "solid B+" as a grade for his first year in office. He was asked a bit too soon for a first year evaluation and now it seems that the tide is turning. Now that the first year is actually over, allow me to give the man a fair assessment in his first year as the leader of the "free" world. I can hear some folks groaning because they think I'm an Obama hater, but give it a read, you might be surprised.

On the economy I give the pres. a C-. I didn't agree with TARP I that George Bush handed out to the banks and agreed even less when Obama did the same with TARP II. It seems that it actually helped the banks a bit, but it hasn't done a thing for the mortgage industry. Fannie and Freddie are still on the ropes and we are stuck with the bill whether they survive or continue to struggle. On the banking end of things, the banks have slowed down it seems on giving people loans that they can't afford to pay back, plus most have paid back the TARP money.

On jobs he Obama gets a solid F. The stimulus was supposed to keep unemployment from going over 8% and we see where it gone. If you ask me, most of the money spent to this point is just political payback and Democratic wish list type spending. Not even 1/3 of the money has been distributed and the White House is taking credit for saving or creating over one million jobs this year. That is a stat that cannot be measured. If at first you don't succeed........

On handling the wars he gets another C-. By 1-23-09 he announced the closing of Gitmo within the first year. Oops. He couldn't get it done. It's no surprise, where was he going to put all those scumbags anyways? Gitmo needs to remain open and used to as a place to prosecute those that need it. Pulling a portion of the troops out of Iraq before the mission is completed is a big mistake. Either get it done or just pull out completely. He does get kudos for expanding troop strength in Afghanistan and for the continued use of the drones. He still needs to listen to his military folks and let them do what they do best. What good he has done is outweighed by his idiotic decision to let Eric Holder try terrorist in NYC. This has been a public relations nightmare for him and he refuses to back off. Obama shouldn't let Holder out in public to speak.

For his promise of transparency, an F. No surprise here either. The debates on health care have all been done in private even though he promised they would be on C-SPAN. But according to Nancy Pelosi, Obama said a lot of things on the campaign trail. Plus no bills have been online for five days before he signed them. Another lie being told by a politician.

For overall promise keeping he gets another F. No lobbyist in the administration. Oops. No more earmarks. Do I have to say "Omnibus Spending Bill" with over 9,000 of said earmarks? It's too early to tell on the promise of cutting the deficit by half by the end of his first term, but the deficit has climbed a bit this last year.

For bowing to a misogynistic pig and travelling all over the world to tell how horrible America is, he gets an A. If there is one area that Obama has excelled in, this is it. Never before have I seen such a display of cowardice by an American president. Well, that is if I don't count Jimmy Carter.

As a campaigner he fails again. Come on, he has tried three times to get Dems either elected or re-elected to seats and has failed all three times. Maybe he should just stay in Washington for the next three years. The Conservatives will have a more difficult time if he's not around.

So overall Obama gets an A, two C-'s and four F's. Maybe he shouldn't carry such a heavy load next semester and cut it back to focusing on the economy.

The American people see the same things I do and are fed up with the "Change" already. Nothing has changed, it's politics as usual. Only this time it's Chicago style. Not that Chicago style politics are any different that any other style.

Three more report cards like this Barry and it's back to Chicago for you.

That's change I can believe in.