Here's a totally unscientific poll & a subjective report card for the 18-month mark of this presidency. The poll & the overall grade are at the end.
Please feel free to share your rationale for your own grade in the poll and discuss politely with others, but please don't throw a hissy fit or get into a pie fight because you disagree with someone's opinion or rationale.
Thank you.
Disclaimer: this report card is a liberal, but honest perspective. Apologies in advance for some of the snarky editorializing.
Subject | Grade | Comments |
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Economy | D | Good job passing the stimulus bill, but it was too small to fix Bush's fiasco. Admin didn't follow up with more action as the economy continued to tank and joblessness turned out to be worse than expected in the stimulus plans. On unemployment & housing, my grade is an F. And a D on mismanaging the bank bailout which wasted gazillions without breaking up the TBTFs or even imposing serious lending requirements on the banks & resulting in virtually no tangible benefits for main street. We missed the opportunity to reform the regulatory system during the crisis, resulting in only weak regulations approved later which are too little, too late, and likely to lead to another crash+bailout in the next decade. Auto bailout seems to have had much better results. |
Iraq | A- | Finally showing good progress towards accomplishing Bush's withdrawal timeline. Cautiously optimistic that the progress will continue. |
Afghanistan/Pakistan | D | Escalation showing no tangible results and there's no clearer strategy articulated so far, specially since al Qaeda is believed to be in Pakistan anyway (pre-flooding at least). Plus, Petraeus is already talking about staying longer. |
Healthcare | B- | A+ for making healthcare an issue at all, an A for expanding insurance to people who can't get any coverage now, an F for the individual mandate to buy junk insurance from corrupt insurers, an F for showering billions more on the corrupt private insurers instead of expanding Medicare's reach, a D for largely ignoring healthcare cost growth, and a C for delaying the law till after the next election so we can't see the flaws until its too late. Unfortunately, the Dems abandoned the best solution (Medicare for All) before reaching the negotiating table and the second best solution (Medicare Option for All) while negotiating with themselves & the lobbyists. Hmmm, wonder why those ungrateful liberals aren't dancing in the streets. |
Justice | F | Held nobody accountable, not Bush, not Cheney, not Rumsfeld, not torturers, not torture-memo-lawyers, not Bernanke (re-nominated him), not Paulson, not Geithner (promoted him!), not AIG, not Citigroup, not BofA, not Goldman Sachs (ok, maybe 1 fine), not Tom Delay, not anyone! No antitrust breakups of the too-big-to-fail corporations. No charges against corrupt health insurers & their real death panels. No repudiation of Bush's Orwellian surveillance policies or the Presidential right to imprison people without a trial. Very slow movement on DADT. No support for gay marriage. Prosecution of whistle-blowers. One positive area seems to be the ratcheting down of some drug war rhetoric. And showcase trials like Bernie Madoff. Ever wonder why we need a Justice Dept if we only plan to look forward, not backward? |
- Guantanamo/Illegal Combatants | F | Why is it still open? |
- Illegal Domestic Surveillance | F | It's not illegal? Really? Then why did the eavesdropping accomplices (AT&T, Verizon, etc.) need retroactive immunity in such a hurry? |
|
Foreign Policy (except wars) | B / incomplete | Good change of direction & attitude (vs. Bush), but lost momentum after initial euphoria. Sabre rattling vs Iran in the face of a serious proposal from Turkey/Brazil didn't help. Maybe Chelsea's wedding distracted Hillary? |
Energy | C / incomplete | Lots of happy talk about renewable fuels and clean energy, but it seems like mostly window dressing (i.e., too small to make a significant impact). |
Environment | C / incomplete | Gulf oil spill response was weak, maybe due to personnel choices or funding or political pressure or all of the above. Not sure why we were opening more areas to offshore drilling before the leak. No progress on cap & trade or possibly a gas tax to seriously encourage increased efficiency & reduced emissions. |
Labor | C / incomplete | Not sure if Labor is part of the Professional Left, but it seems to be largely ignored right now. Rescue of auto industry was good, although a bit heavy handed compared to the bank bailout. Should have been the other way around, IMO. | Personnel/Staffing | C- | Good goals on hiring policies (no lobbying, strict background checks) but compromised or ineffective staff choices in many key areas. It's a kinder, gentler version of regulatory capture, accompanied by timid & poor policy implementation in the midst of economic & wartime crises. |
Leadership/Politics | C- | With the exception of putting health care/insurance on the agenda, the past 18 months seem to have been more about reacting than leading. The all-carrot & no-stick strategy for bipartisanship (Obama's own brainchild) was a complete failure in convincing/pressuring Republicans to cooperate. Dems got played for chumps repeatedly by Repubs on healthcare, stimulus, & financial reform by pretending to negotiate, getting concessions, then voting against the bills anyway. The administration barely managed to convince/bribe the ConservaDems like Nelson. Giving Faux News a front row press seat is just dumb, while being suckered every month on fake right wing issues (Death Panels, Acorn, Shirley Sherrod firing, Ground Zero Mosque, Deficit Crisis, Social Security Crisis, ...). The all-stick & no-carrot approach for liberals also didn't help shore up the base. Refusing to address real left wing concerns (larger stimulus, public option/single payer, breakup the TBTF banks, end the antitrust immunity of health insurers, charge the lawbreakers in the Bush/Cheney cabal, etc.) while scolding Dems to get in line shows the admin's total misreading of the political landscape (IMO). The only saving grace for Dems right now is that the Repubs are politically even crazier than them, thanks to the Tea Party nutcases, but it may not be enough to save all the Dems in the midterms. |
OVERALL GRADE | C | Better than Bush (obviously; Bush would've probably got a D or possibly an F), but we haven't really seen the big CHANGE that was promised, resulting in a significant reduction of HOPE :( |
I'm on the fence on some of these grades, so feel free to mention additional info that's missing.