"Will the public conclude that his policies worked, however much they may cost and however much they may entail more government intervention in the economy? Or will they regard his agenda as intrusive and ineffective big government? What steps may Obama take to alleviate public discontent over these first-year decisions?"
Read this article from the Washington Post and provide your assessment of President Obama's first year in office.
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I feel that President Obama thought at the beginning of his first year in office that changes can be make made easily with little friction from the people or the Republican party. It is essentially shown in the past year that the "change" that Obama wanted with healthcare especially, is causing many drawbacks to his ratings. It seems like Obama felt that all this change can happen with one small swoop. I am not doubting the man for wanting to fix things such as the economy, but many things trying to be changed at once can be devastating for Americans, esepecially ones who are comfortable with their living. Now I for one, do not agree with a lot of President Obama's views, but in overall asessment he had done fair. There have been worse presidents to have taken hold of office and failed dramatically with a crisis surrounding the government (James Buchanan is the first one who comes to mind). So overall he has produced a fair adverage but it has not really impressed much. Only time will really tell on how the outcome on presidency will end up.
ReplyDeleteI believe that it is too early to know whether Obama's policies have worked. People in general are extremely impatient and expect instant resolutions to problems that have taken years to create. There is no silver bullet for the issues that Obama will continue to face in the next few years. Healthcare, pre-existing war, extreme debt and deficit, and a troubled economy are not what I would consider easy fixes.
ReplyDeleteOnly time will tell whether Obama is an upright person (as if any politician could be...power corrupts all those it touches if only in a small manner). In the meantime I do stand by my conviction that many people will be wary of every move he makes, as they should be.
There is a part of me that is scared of collectivism and I think that some others are probably feeling the same way too. That is not to say I personally believe that Obama is a communist. What I am saying is that any type of plans that involve "big government" intervention (such as government bail outs and more taxes) will make the majority of constituents become even more critical of Obama's sincere ideals and motives.
The main thing that Obama can do to help keep the people calm over his first year AND his future plans, is to continue to communicate. Communication is the key. The American people are growing weary of deceit and hush hush politicians. For many years Americans have let the government tell the public what they want to hear and not what is the truth. I feel that this is coming to an end. I pray that one day this WILL come to an end. President Obama must communicate first and foremost.
Soul to Soul,
VikTorious
This is Taryn by the way...
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree with parts of what both of my fellow classmates have said. I believe Obama came into the office of President with an agenda. He expected to knock it out quickly and smoothly. However and unfortunately, it seems that Republicans and Democrats can never put aside their differences in order to make a resolution that will better the country that they campaigned and promised to serve.
Although the country is still facing a higher percentage of unemployment rates and an outrageous national debt, as I stated earlier in class today, it seems a blame is being put upon Obama. Yes, that fact of being a President comes with the terrority but I still feel it is unjust. This debt has been years in the making. Millions to billions of dollars in debt just don't magically appear over night.
I believe Obama is doing a good, though not a great job, so far in office. He's doing a better job than I could do. And God help any man or woman who would want to put themselves in the position to be held responsible for a whole nation of people.
Again, I agree that Obama cannot fathomably be blamed for the massive debt, crummy economy, and all the other issues inherited with the job. Like Taryn said, they were years in the making. However, I also agree with Brandon in that Obama might be trying to fix too many issues at once.
ReplyDeleteHumans are creatures of habit, and too much change at once can be quite jarring. Obama campaigned on the slogan "the change we need", and now that people are starting to experience changes (massive government spending within the country, healthcare shift, etc.), some are starting to realize that these changes are a bit out of their comfort zones. Obama can't and shouldn't be slammed for bringing about what he promised: change. Unlike many presidential candidates, the guy stuck to his word, however vague it was. However, in some areas, like health reform, I think Obama needs to reevaluate his trajectory.
Communalization of health care will fix the issue of sky-high premiums, but at the cost of quality of medicine. In the health feild, as we all know, quality is everything. In countries with a socialized system of medicine, doctors are drowned in even more suffocating legalities, competition is cut lower (since they are government employees, job security is much higher than for doctors here in America), and a crop of lower quality doctors is dispersed among the citizens. The statistics we viewed in class about the quality of American health care reflect hard competition, dedication, and the "weeding out" of those that simply wouldn't cut it as doctors. People from countries of socialized medicine travel thousands upon thousands of miles simply to get treated here- because the care is THAT GOOD. Sacrificing that through socialized medicine would be a huge mistake.
Instead, there should be encouragement for more students to become general doctors. Tax cuts or even incentives would up the number of interested students in general medicine, and general doctors would be more readily available across the nation. In addition, the insurance companies need to get slammed. Caps should seal premiums at more reasonable rates, cutting down a bit on the MASSIVE income that insurance companies hoard daily. With a more regulated insurance system, health costs with subside a bit, and more people will be able to recieve the care they need.
Obama is holding his own in office, but I think he needs a little reevaluation in his solutions before he gets in over his head in trying to tackle too many problems at once.
-Sicher
I agree with the others in the blog comments. After years of government "non-intervention" policies, the Obama administration swept in to change the way the government runs on daily basis drastically.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with the Princeton University's Nolan McCarty that while Obama had a giant "to-do list" that strongly favors the Democratic ideology and agenda, Obama should have included a measure or two that BOTH parties could settle on without a heated debate.
Obama should have been more careful - because of the promotion of only the "push forward" agenda, Obama and his administration received terrible (negative) news/media coverage. He should have introduced something like Welfare Reform (like McCarty mentioned with Clinton) that both ideologies can go along with.
But then again, it's too late now. The first year is over and what's done is done. Although I agree that he needs to stay the course with his agenda, he needs to start pushing (or you can say "forcing") those Republicans in a way that they have to go along or else receive a public backlash. Obama administration needs to have more friendly media coverages that talks about partisanship - not bickering of the two parties.
Anyway, Obama's promise of "change" meets half way through the first year. Yes, we have seen changes that we have not seen in the previous years. However, the politics remain the same. For Obama to regain the independents, I believe that he needs to regain their trust - as a man of bold change - change of both policies and politics in Washington.
Having witnessed the State of the Union address last night, Obama is going into the year 2010 with a sense of change from his original change.
To end, the Obama administration's efforts will be fairly judged when the time eventually passes on. But until then, expect more politics and biased opinions!
Se
Our government was built on the people. The whole basis of our country relies on the fact that our government serves the people, it works for the people, and is ran by the PEOPLE! I agree with the previous statements commenting on how President Obama can't not logically be blamed for much of anything.
ReplyDeleteBarrack Obama is our President. Our President serves as our leader, but is still only a figure head in the since that he represents the people. The people chose an intelligent, wise, and strong hearted man to run our country to lead our country into, " Change". Yet I believe the PEOPLE is what is holding our country back. I believe we are stuck in our big muscle cars spinning tires in a since that we still have a mentality that we are the best. That we have no need to innovate technology or healthcare. That if it worked before than it should work again.
President Obama is our leader, and for the amount laid upon his shoulders I believe he has done a fair job. I believe that before our country can ever reinstate it's flagship status then the people will have to realize that maybe we really do need change. President Obama is just one individual. The Congress has just as much responsibility as he does, and if we cannot get over ourselves sticking to our parties and worrying about what's going to get us re-elected then maybe we won't ever change.
Through out history people have resented change. I believe that its time for our politcal leaders to stop worrying about their reputation and do what's best for our country that we love. Even if it isn't the most popular thing to do. I believe and have faith that President Obama can and will lead us to change and will truly represent the American people. No matter if it is popular or not at the time.
President Obama has an agenda that I believe he should carry out. Our country is in trouble and has been for awhile. If we can get people working and if we can improve the overall education of our society than I believe America can change and will change. Only time will show us how and who will get the crown.
-Andrew
I'm testing out the name/url thing. I'll post later. Hah;
ReplyDeleteI don't think it is fair to judge President Obama so critically- as he has been over the past few days- I mean, he has only gotten through a single year of trying to shape our country. Each way he turns there is somebody to criticize him, so, a note to the general public... don't become the president. :)
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I think he has done a fine job "representing his people," as Andrew (above) put it. He is working on everything he promised and more: note his reaction to terrorism and last year's Christmas Day bombing. And I mean, this economic crash was bound to happen anyway, right? It was a ticking clock. Poor Obama just happened to be elected right around the same time that America's baby exploded... It is obviously as much our fault as it is his.
Maybe this "change" that he promised is actually happening, which America isn't used to because, well, politicians are known to lie. I think that any other candidate we would have thrown into office last year would be equally as knee-deep as Obama is. Maybe even worse. Problems (especially ones this huge and multitudinous) can't just melt away as Democrats wish they could and they cannot be changed by the lifestyle habits that Republicans think they should.
President Obama, I think, is handling America's issues in an a-okay manner. He have quite a lot on his plate but at least he does seem to know what to do and how to do it. All he needs is time and some patience from the rest of the country to get it done. We DID vote him to represent us after all, he's already gotten our permission. America, stop being such quitter-pants! (44 percent disapproving?!) We, the people, should support our President! Just give him the time he needs to continue saving the world...
Hannah
Lets all be completely honest. Whether you are for President Obama or against him, it's only been a year. So far he has shown that his government agenda is not afraid to cross over into socialist waters. Obama is not afraid to take action and force his agenda. Right after he was elected he introduced a stimulus bill, the largest spending bill in our nation's history. From the beginning we learned that our President would be a spending machine that doesn't understand the capitalist system our nation has.
ReplyDeletePresident Obama has continued this by trying quick fixes such as cash for clunkers in which the government ran out of money and some dealerships still have not been paid. I'm not debating the healthcare in this blog but we can't deny that for a big spending President, this kind of adds on to it.
Within a year, Obama has stepped on many toes and stretched out his celebrity hand only to find it slapped and awaken to the reality that this is politics. Of course his approval ratings are going to drop, these are hard times. The President isn't helping things though by trying to embrace his policies through socialism. Am I saying that Obama will soon embrace a socialist system on America, no, but these small steps could have an even greater undoing of our economy. America's economy will always have its ups or downs, that's capitalism. To alter it and "change" it though could only bring an even greater fall. Stop spending!