Does anyone have any thoughts about President Barack Obama’s first 100 days in office? If you were to give him a report card, what grade would you give him and why?
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I will skip the first question and the second part of the second question for now. On to the first part of the second question:
F+
Joseph Pietro Riolo
josephpietrojeungriolo@gmail.com
Public domain notice: I put all of my expressions in this post in the public domain.
I want to supplement my original comment with a bit more explanation on why I gave President Obama the terribly low grade.
One main reason is the ever increasing amount of the public debt. I looked at the report that was released by Congressional Budget Office two months ago ( http://www.cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=10014 ). In every year for the next 10 years, it is projected that there will be always deficit in the federal budget. The balance of the public debt as of April 30, 2009 is $11,238,592,141,958.64 ( http://www.treasurydirect.gov/.....ication=np ). That is eleven trillion dollars! A trillion is equal to a million million. There is no sight in eliminating the deficit and thereby, reducing the public debt. Fiscal responsibility is very important to me and President Obama did not even try to address it. The universal health care may even increase the public debt in large way. I shudder to see the future generations being burdened with the heavy public debt. We may see stagflation.
Other reason is that President Obama continued to allow earmarks. I thought that he promised to stop all earmarks but I guess that he thought that it is okay to break promise if it is politically expedient.
One thing that will hit the deaf population in general and the Deaf culture in specific is President Obama’s Executive Order on stem cells. Now that the federal agencies are free to fund ever more research on stem cells, the progress to find the cures to every kind of disease and disability is going to speed up. Eventually, there will be stem cell treatments that may cure deafness. When it happens, the population of the Deaf culture may soon one day become extinct. As one saying goes, for every deliberate decision we make, we need to consider its impact on the next seven generations.
The plus sign that I gave to the failing grade is mainly due to the improvement in the foreign relationships. But, it is hard to distinguish it from appeasement. We can’t afford not to learn lesson from the history.
Joseph Pietro Riolo
josephpietrojeungriolo@gmail.com
Public domain notice: I put all of my expressions in this post in the public domain.
Joseph,
Why do you insist on using this line “Public domain notice: I put all of my expressions in this post in the public domain.” ??
There is no way to spend less at this point. Government needs to spend to get the United States through the economic crisis. We can’t just hold off spending because the previous administration sunk billions and billions of dollars into the quagmire in Iraq. (See the documentary “No End in Sight” for actual fiscal irresponsibility.)
Earmarks need to be addressed, I agree, but you have to realize that they are a drop in the bucket. Doing away with them would barely make a blip on the radar when it comes to the budget. Some say that it should be a start, which I think is a good point, but considering that this issue has been entrenched in Congress forever, I don’t hold it against Obama so much.
Lastly, I am not sure what stem cell research leading to cure deafness has anything directly to do with Obama. America desperately needs a boost in science and technology as we see other nations become more developed in these fields, and he should be applauded for that. The Deaf culture will eventually be affected by whatever new treatment or even cure comes forth, and they will have to consider how to deal with that. It is not a reason to judge against Obama, though.
I would have thought that his performance with foreign policy would move him a little higher than the F baseline, such as in the C range.
There are different economics philosophies on how to handle the economics crisis. President Obama and his administration chose the neo-Keynesian philosophy to handle the crisis. I don’t agree with his approach that the solution is to spend more. I am more kind of letting the bad businesses fail so that the law of bankruptcy can wipe out the bad debts. It is like the Sabbatical year where the debts are forgiven. But, his administration chose to keep the debts alive and chose greed over equity and politics over common sense.
Even if President Obama chose the neo-Keynesian philosophy, I don’t see him making any plan to get rid of deficit anytime soon. The consequence is that the future generations will be burdened with ever-increasing public debt.
The fact that the Congress and President Obama still allow earmarks shows that they do not care about fiscal responsibility. Even though each earmark is relatively very small when compared to the whole federal budget, the cumulative amount of all earmarks is really a lot of money.
It is not totally harmless that President Obama allows the federal agencies to use the federal money to fund the research on stem cell. It gives a very subtle signal that it is okay to see hearing superior to deafness. This smells of audism. Also, it is an extremely subtle, very small step toward eugenics. The fact that we have the federal government encouraging eugenics one very small bit at a time concerns me because several decades later, the parents who want to leave their deaf children as they are without any treatment from stem cell will face the extremely powerful federal government who may take away their deaf children and place them in other families who are willing to approve stem cell treatments on them.
I don’t mind that the non-governmental entities doing the research on stem cell with their own money. But, to see that the governmental entities encouraging and funding the stem cell research is entirely a different matter.
To respond to Peter’s question, the purpose of my public domain notice is to disclaim copyright in my comments. It is roughly (or appropriately, not sure which one) equivalent to CC0 as explained at http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/13304 .
Joseph Pietro Riolo
josephpietrojeungriolo@gmail.com
Public domain notice: I put all of my expressions in this post in the public domain.
The problem with letting bad businesses fail is that their failures have far-reaching consequences for people not directly involved. For example, the financial services industry is the linchpin of all other industries because loans are critical to moving businesses forward. The collapse of some companies reduce confidence in exchanging loans; nobody wants to loan to each other because they don’t think they’ll be paid back. This dropping confidence harms business of all sizes, but especially small businesses (I think). That’s why the government has had to prompt up some companies despite their poor conduct; they are not just giving money away. They attach strings to ensure wise spending. The great challenge with this is that such actions need to be done quickly to keep the economy afloat, so unfortunately, there is sloppiness. There is not enough time to plan out something highly effective, but to let cascading failures take place would be to let the economy plummet. It’s a very ugly situation to deal with, and there is no perfect solution, but I think what the Obama administration is trying to do is better than nothing. In the case of the auto companies, I really wish they could fail, but the unfortunate truth is that too many livelihoods are invested in these companies for such an easy solution. We are not a country that equips every person with a varied enough skill set to be fluid from one company to another. (That’s why I support the health care plan; this would alleviate companies of that particular responsibility and allow individuals’ plans to be apart from changing employment.)
In regard to stem cell research, Obama himself is making no such signal. Arguments about such research’s impact on Deaf culture is not relevant to critique of this administration. The research opens many possibilities that could be arguably good and bad — the same can be argued for many other venues. The Internet has its pros and cons. Globalization has its pros and cons. In the case of stem cell research, benefits are clear. The research can use guidance, but I advocate a cure for deafness and for other conditions. The concern about the federal gov’t asserting control in the lives of parents’ deaf children is unrealistic to me and not really related to the scientific possibilities of stem cell research.
Nice to see the public domain notice, though! I edit on Wikipedia fairly frequently, so I am familiar with such free licensing. :)
Erik:
I have to agree with your comment– “The research opens many possibilities that could be arguably good and bad — the same can be argued for many other venues.” You’ve hit the nail on the head.
The advancement of science can have both good and bad effects…consider the field of plastic surgery. ’nuff said.
F-
I give him a B+. In my opinion, he’s doing a helluva better job than his precessor. Waterboarding, anyone?
I would give him a B for progress and an A for effort. He’s doing a helluva better job than his precessor.
His precessor has committed so many wrong actions, it’s not even funny. Bush definitely deserved double and triple F grades on his report card. With giving credit card companies leeway to torture tactics, no wonder other countries have a bad image of USA.
He get an A minus, Minus because they said that “we would get a black president when pigs fly”. And what comes right on the heels of his 100th day? Swine Flu.
lol! Nice one MediaMarc! :D As for me, I’m willing to give him a B for now because he just started and had made some mistakes, but he apologized upfront right away which I admire as a positive trait. Any mistakes he makes now I am hoping that he will change and do better next time. However, if he continues to make the same mistake without further thought, I would perhaps downgrade it a bit based at the events on hand.
I know we shouldn’t compare, but this is definitely a comparative question, so henceforth: Obama started out incredibly well rounded as an individual role-modeling tried and true. Time will tell how he does towards the end of his term. All I know that it WILL be better due to no Bushism if any at all.
I grade Obama an “A-” on his performance so far. See PolitiFact’s Obameter for how he has fulfilled his promises so far. In addition, he has had to face the Republican Party, which has transformed into the party of “no”, voting against anything he proposes even if there were successful compromises. (Their approach is a major reason for the failure of bipartisan efforts; see how Arlen Specter jumped ship recently.) His dealing with the economic crisis through stimulus measures has not been perfect, but from reading “The Economist” and other sources, gov’t spending is required at this point when no one else wants to spend. His foreign policy approach has been highly admirable. There is much less talk of aggression, and dialogue is actually taking place. Unilateralism is not a policy that works in this day and age. He had a lot to deal with coming into the Presidency, and I think that considering the circumstances, he has performed admirably.
A+!!! It’s truly amazing how quickly Obama is getting things done in such a short time. Of course, as a nation, we still have a ways to go but none of that is Obama’s fault (I’m looking at you, Bush!). I’ve been very impressed with Obama’s work and am excited to see what the next 3 3/4 years have in store for us.
My main concern is Obama’s attempt to nationalize banks. That is in essence Socialism which does not sit well with me. Of course, Obama’s actions have not surprised me, but I just didn’t expect him to push his agenda through with such vigour.
Some here mentioned the national debt which I feel is the least of our worries. We can simply let our dollar fall in value, thereby causing inflation since imports would be much more expensive. However, doing so would greatly benefit the domestic industry and our ability to export to other parts of the world.
We all know oil is denominated in U.S. dollars, but if the dollar falls, oil tends to rise since Europeans and others also buy oil and are willing to use their currency. That could hurt us.
When I was a little kid in sunny Mazatlán (in Sinaloa, México) in 1983, I remember the troops entering banks with their machine guns. The Mexican Peso (MXP) plunged from 90 to 3,000 within a week, causing a massive jam in banks by people desperately trying to rid themselves of the worthless Pesos. I am assuming the government debts were Peso-denominated and with the government printing new 10,000 peso bills, I would suspect it was easier for them to pay off debts. Inflation was a nightmare in Mexico for a few years after 1983, but it has largely stabilized in the past decade.
Since Mexico’s image was tarnished, I suppose it would be much harder for them to obtain loans. Ecuador decided not to pay back debts and realized they needed more money. Who in the right mind would lend them money? Brazil and Argentina have a hard time selling bonds since they have let their currencies devalue in the past. The U.S. has never done that.
Obama’s hands are essentially tied, but if you look up his sleeves, I’m sure he’s got a few surprises. I just hope it’s not a hammer and sickle!
I give him a C. It would have been better if I wasn’t so suspicious of his actions!
Very nice information. Thanks for this.
Regards,
Mike
Can somebody remove this spam? It’s disgusting.