Happy ‘Hallmark holiday’—Obama’s 100th day
By Jennifer J. Foster
Published: April 29, 2009
As President Obama marks his 100th day in office today, pundits and politicos alike are weighing in on his performance so far.
CNN is having a big special tonight that will incorporate user-generated content as part of its televised coverage that will precede and follow the president’s primetime address.
Oh boy. User-generated content: The wonder of the web that places the ill-conceived opinion of every ill-informed Tom, Dick and Harry on par with the most experienced and seasoned political veterans. Ah, free speech! Caveat emptor!
SIDEBAR: Speaking of that primetime address, it will be the third of the president’s 100 days. That’s an average of one a month. Most of the networks have been cooperative, if grudgingly so, thus far (the Fox broadcast network will stick with its drama, “Lie to Me”—insert joke about the irony of a politician being upstaged about a show about lying here). But considering that it costs the networks about $10 million in ad revenue each time the president takes over their airtime (and that, you know, we have these things called cable news channels, radio and the internet), it’s only a matter of time until they run out of goodwill. END SIDEBAR
Amid all this hullabaloo, longtime politico Ed Rollins offers a sensible analysis of all the analysis of Obama’s first 100 days. Yes, Rollins is a Republican strategist. But he’s been around long enough to know what he’s talking about, and he’s middle-of-the-road enough that he hasn’t sacrificed his credibility for the sake of party identification.
The high points of Rollins’ piece:
“After the first hundred days, President Carter was viewed as potentially great, and President Clinton was viewed as a one-termer. Obviously, it didn’t turn out that way.“
“The president has an appealing style. The country is giving him high marks, but so far they are style points and not necessarily for his policies. We don’t know whether the policies will work.“
And then, there’s this:
If you’re a Democrat, the words you would use to describe the president’s first 100 days would be something like these: energetic, intense, charming, refreshing, honest, likeable, smart and competent, a leader and a positive change agent.
If you’re a Republican, the words you might use are: dangerous, inexperienced, weak, indecisive, reckless spender and liberal. Some Republicans have called him a socialist, and some in the Republican National Committee foolishly want to pass a resolution calling him this.
The truth as always lies somewhere in between.
See? I told you Rollins was good. You can read the rest of his column here.
I’ll be out of the house tonight and will miss the president’s address when it’s delivered. But I’ll catch it on late-night rerun and be back with my own analysis later.
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