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Barack Obama - Source: Reuters -
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Barack Obama trumpeted the sharp break he has made from the Bush
administration's policies in his whirlwind first 100 days but also
expressed some caution about the future.
Some have used the 100-day milestone to assess Obama's policies,
even as analysts cautioned it was too soon to say whether his long
list of initiatives would yield success.
Obama has signalled a new approach on policies from the economy to
climate change to US relations with Iran as part of an agenda that
both his supporters and critics describe as ambitious.
The popular president, whose approval ratings are above 60%, used
a town-hall style event in Missouri to push his initiatives on
health care, education and the economy.
"We have begun to pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off and
begun the work of remaking America," Obama said. "There will be
setbacks. It will take time. But I promise I will always tell you
the truth about the challenges we face."
Underscoring the challenge Obama still confronts in pulling the
country out of recession, new government data showed the economy
contracted at 6.1 percent in the first quarter, a
steeper-than-expected slide, as exports sharply declined.
While dismissing the 100-day milestone as an artificial gauge
created by the media, the White House is nonetheless putting a
spotlight on it with high-profile events.
At the town hall in Arnold, Missouri, near St Louis, Obama alluded
to the 100-day mark and offered his reflections. In the evening, he
will return to the White House and hold a televised news conference
at 8 pm EDT/0000 GMT.
"We're playing along with the game," White House spokesman Robert
Gibbs joked. He told reporters the media had created a wave over
100 days and "We'll try to surf it a little bit."
Looming large for Obama as well is a
flu outbreak that has presented him with his
first public health emergency and a controversy over his release of
secret documents detailing harsh
interrogations of terrorism suspects in the Bush
era.
The tradition of marking the first 100 days of US presidencies
dates back to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who trumpeted his ability
to push through 15 pieces of major legislation in that time period
after taking office in 1933 in the midst of the Great
Depression.
"There is no magic to the first 100 days," said Ross Baker, a
political science professor at Rutgers University in New
Jersey.
"I think people are always looking for a marker or some sort of
guidepost."
As an example of the measures' flaws as a leading indicator, many
analysts cite the first 100 days of the presidency of Obama's
predecessor, George Bush.
The Republican president's two terms in office came to be defined
by decisions such as the launch of the Iraq war that occurred in
the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks - nearly nine
months after Bush took office.
Calm demeanour
Still, Baker and other experts said Obama's early months have
revealed much about his style of governing, including his calm
demeanour and effectiveness at commanding the stage but also his
penchant for piling a lot onto his policy plate.
So far in his presidency, Obama has enacted a
US$787 billion stimulus programme , launched a
drive to overhaul the health care system, made overtures toward
long-time US foes Iran and Cuba and unveiled
new strategies for the Iraq and Afghanistan
wars.
William Galston, a scholar at the Brookings Institution and a
former adviser to President Bill Clinton, said he viewed the
100-day mark as an entirely artificial benchmark.
On the other hand, Galston said, "I think we've learned a fair
amount about Obama the human being occupying the Oval Office.
"But a lot of people are leaping from the fact that he's set an
enormous number of things in motion to the conclusion that those
things that are now in motion are necessarily going to reach the
finish line," Galston said. "It's not a leap I'm prepared to
take."
On the domestic policy side, some critics contend Obama's stimulus
package and a proposed
US$3.55 trillion budget he laid out for 2010 will
curb economic growth in the future by leading to a mountain of
government debt.
Some have also faulted Obama's moves to address the banking crisis,
saying they have been too timid.
But Obama's supporters point to what they see as early signs his
economic remedies may be working, including steadier stock prices
and slightly improving consumer confidence.
Gibbs said the pretty severe contraction in GDP for the first
quarter underscored the continued concern but said there were some
hopeful signs in the rise in consumer spending in the report.
Giving a boost to Obama's domestic agenda was the decision this
week by Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter to leave the Republican
Party and join the president's Democrats.
The move may put Obama's party within reach of a 60-seat
majority in the Senate, potentially making it easier to push
through his agenda on issues like health care.
How do you think Obama has done in his first 100 days. Has
he lived up to the hype? Share your thoughts on the message board
below.
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