On Obama.

I know you probably think it’s ridiculous that I’m going to try to capture President Barack Obama in one little column here, and I’m gonna have to go ahead and agree with you on that.  So I won’t.  Instead, I’ll try to capture a snapshot of his first 100 days in office.

WHAT’S GOING ON?

It’s Obama’s 100^th day in office today, and that means…not much, actually.  A lot of media outlets are making a big deal out of a totally artificial benchmark.  I just want to use the moment to help us get a grasp on what he’s tried to do so far.  I’ll try not to assume it means anything…

ON FOREIGN POLICY…

So far, Obama’s administration has made it a point to reach out to most of America’s “enemies.”  He’s advocated direct diplomatic talks with Iran, something the U.S. hasn’t done since Iranian revolutionaries held 52 U.S. diplomats hostage for 444 days in 1979-1981.  He’s shaken hands with Hugo Chavez (see “On Hugo Chavez", below).  He’s relaxed the trade embargo with Cuba (albeit only to make it easier for Cubans to get American money and to see American news).  The elephant in the room, of course, is North Korea – any efforts Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have made to start talking about talks have been met with more and more North Korean rebellion.

ON THE ECONOMY…

Obama’s domestic policy thus far has been highlighted on his willingness – nay, his need – to spend 787 billion dollars stimulating a broken U.S. economy, after spending $350 billion saving banks from their own mistakes.  Later, the administration gave tens of billions to GM and Chrysler as an effort to help them avoid bankruptcy; these loans to the car companies have turned into possible socialization of the industry, with GM submitting a plan in the last week to turn over majority ownership of the company to the government and to the unions.   Such drastic government spending has been the biggest strike against Obama domestically, with groups rallying in tea parties against such government spending, and governors (of southern states, mainly) speaking out against the package and even rejecting the stimulus money.  This anti-bailout mentality is captured fairly well (and fairly humorously) at the site www.bankofobama.org.

ON WASHINGTON…

Obama’s campaign platform was one of reform, of pledges to totally revamp the way Washington does business, and to do away with the politicization of certain policies.  On this, his success is markedly mixed – his stimulus package barely passed, and only did so after countless trade-offs and political concessions took the sting off for a couple Republicans.  On the other hand, however, he lifted several scientific restrictions (the most famous of which is probably the ban on stem-cell research) with the idea that politicians should stick to politics and scientists should stick to science.

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It’s obviously too early to tell whether any of his plans will come to fruition, but it’s not too early to see the basic path he’s trying to follow – one of reaching out across country lines, while not reaching very well across party lines.  But with an approval rating of 65%, the highest 100-day approval rating in 40 years, Obama is clearly liked by the American public…for now.