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Wes Mantooth · 01-20-2010, 08:32 PM

To be honest I have a hard time properly evaluating Obama's first year in office. It would appear on the surface that Obama has had many successes in his first year yet its hard to judge weather or not his acts as President will in the end be good or bad for the nation. I don't think its proper to judge the bail outs on just the immediate returns as the larger repercussions wont be felt for sometime. However the economic downturn has slowed and we have seen small growth, unemployment is still very high and shows no signs of turning around. The surge in Afghanistan seems to have been effective but with the announcement of a troop pull out next year I'm not sure if the surge was necessary or will have any lasting effects given the time table. Health care is still stuck in congress hell and as of right now remains nothing but a pipe dream leaving us with very little evaluate.

On a more immediate level it appears his first year on office has been somewhat wishy washy. I think his support on the left has been crumbling to a certain extent because he appears unable to take a hard line stance on left wing issues nor does he seem willing to flex his super majority muscle and force through the health care bill. The right obviously has never supported him but I fear he's somehow managed to alienate them further with reckless spending, meddling in private business and a weak stance on the Middle East and foreign policy in general. The comparisons thus far with Jimmy Carter aren't without some basis.

Personally I feel thus far he's been pretty much what I expected him to be. There was simply no way he was going to live up to the hype attributed to him nor make any major advancements towards the utopia of change he spun on the campaign trail. In the end I think he's typical of the type of politician we Americans love to elect. He's charismatic, down to earth and great at selling himself yet when he actually has to govern he's just another let down because we love choosing style over substance.

01-20-2010, 08:32 PM	#11 (permalink)
Wes Mantooth Junkie Location: Tennessee	To be honest I have a hard time properly evaluating Obama's first year in office. It would appear on the surface that Obama has had many successes in his first year yet its hard to judge weather or not his acts as President will in the end be good or bad for the nation. I don't think its proper to judge the bail outs on just the immediate returns as the larger repercussions wont be felt for sometime. However the economic downturn has slowed and we have seen small growth, unemployment is still very high and shows no signs of turning around. The surge in Afghanistan seems to have been effective but with the announcement of a troop pull out next year I'm not sure if the surge was necessary or will have any lasting effects given the time table. Health care is still stuck in congress hell and as of right now remains nothing but a pipe dream leaving us with very little evaluate. On a more immediate level it appears his first year on office has been somewhat wishy washy. I think his support on the left has been crumbling to a certain extent because he appears unable to take a hard line stance on left wing issues nor does he seem willing to flex his super majority muscle and force through the health care bill. The right obviously has never supported him but I fear he's somehow managed to alienate them further with reckless spending, meddling in private business and a weak stance on the Middle East and foreign policy in general. The comparisons thus far with Jimmy Carter aren't without some basis. Personally I feel thus far he's been pretty much what I expected him to be. There was simply no way he was going to live up to the hype attributed to him nor make any major advancements towards the utopia of change he spun on the campaign trail. In the end I think he's typical of the type of politician we Americans love to elect. He's charismatic, down to earth and great at selling himself yet when he actually has to govern he's just another let down because we love choosing style over substance. __________________ “My god I must have missed it...its hell down here!”