Obama's Report Card

So ... how has the administration handled the first 100 days? Seems like it is time for a progress report. Let's see how the President has done on 5 key areas ... The areas are: Foreign Policy, Economics, Defense, Social Issues and Intangibles.


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A+ Intangibles ... The President has managed to convince the country that he can lead us out of the recession and restore our prominence in the world. Of course there are people who don't believe he can, but we they are in the minority, just as we they were in the last election. Don't discount the intangibles, we have often heard of educators that gave their students work that was many grade levels above what they were supposed to be studying and because the students thought that they were expected to learn it ... they did. He has given the majority of Americans HOPE.


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C- Foreign Policy ... I would give the President an A for his handling of the Somali Pirates (would have been an A+ if he had acted 3 days earlier). The rest of his foreign policy is a disaster. Bowing to the Saudi King would not have been that bad if he had just explained that it was an error. It might have actually played well for him. But trying to deny what everyone could actually see for themselves was very Clintonesque. Acting friendly with the rulers of Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and China is an actual slap in the face of those people that are currently fighting, dead or imprisoned in those countries for trying to bring to their despotic homelands just a sliver of the freedoms that we enjoy in the United States. The USA should be helping those fighting against oppressive rule, not glad-handing their oppressors.
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D Economy ... Much as I hate even thinking about TARP, this has to be addressed here. Now this is a combined grade with the Bush administration having authorized and spent half of it. But it seems that having given 600 Billion to the Banks in order to loosen-up lending, shouldn't they be lending more? Kudos to Wells Fargo, which has actually increased lending from last year, but to the rest of the banks ... well, lucky you can't see the gesture that I am sending your way. Bank of America used the TARP money to buy other banks ... I guess that way they could get the TARP money from the banks they bought too. And now, when some banks want to give the money back, the government doesn't want to take it. Moving on to the "stimulus package" ... have you ever seen such a pork-filled political pay-back packed piece of s&*7 legislation? Guess the President didn't keep his word about vetoing bills with earmarks. And I don't have enough memory in this computer to go on about his 10 trillion dollar budget. I better stop now before I lower his grade.
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A+++Social Issues ... WTF??? you may be asking yourself, have the Blogway Boys gone completely crazy? This guy is a total disaster on social issues. But guess what folks, we all knew where he stood when we elected him, and boy has he delivered.
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F Defense ... The most important job of government is to keep us safe. As far as I'm concerned there is no debate on this, and all the other things that government does for us (post office, schools, roads etc) is just an added blessing (or curse). This administration is going to leave us weakened militarily and open to an attack that may make September 11th look like the good old days. Seems that all the other divisions of the government (commerce, agriculture etc) got bigger in the Obama budget, while defence was told to cut back. One of the things that the Army has been told to cut back is FCS (future combat systems). This includes things like robots for clearing minefields and disarming mines as well as things like the Predator drones that have been so effective in Iraq and Afghanistan and allow our troops to kill the enemy from miles away and have been directly responsible for saving lives and limbs. Mr. President ... just because you abolished the term "war on terror", doesn't mean that there aren't people out there that want to kill Americans ... and it is your responsibility to ensure that they don't succeed. And by the way, releasing memos on enhanced interrogation techniques and photos of abuse is not the way to safeguard America's security ... It's just a way to pander to your base.

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"PLEASE SAVE MY BABY-BOY"

Well, it didn't take very long did it? Some intrepid reporter tracked down the family of the lone-surviving Somali pirate. His mom is now pleading with the President to pardon her son because he was enticed into piracy by "gangsters with money". Newsflash mom, that's how most criminals turn to crime. The mom also wants the President to allow her to come to the United States to be with her boy (probably at taxpayer expense). She says her boy is only 16 ... though he says he is 19. On the off-chance that he is 16, she should be allowed a visa to visit her son and attend the trial ... but she needs to come up with the money to do so.

In yet another example of lawyer self-aggrandisement, prominent New York Civil Rights attorney, Ron Kuby is in discussions about forming a legal team to represent the young pirate. I never met a lawyer that didn't love press coverage, and Kuby is no exception.

In a welcome turn of events, several attempts to hi-jack other ships have been thwarted by NATO forces this past week. It just goes to show that when America steps up and shows strength, other nations follow. It's time for America to take the lead wherever evil people attempt to oppress others ... are you listening Hugo Chavez, Mahmoud Ahmadinijad and Kim Il Sung?

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Well Done Mr President ... BUT

I don't get to say this often but, "Kudos Mr President", your decision to let the Seals take out those Somali pirates was the correct one. Those 3 shots heard round the horn of Africa sent a simple and clear message ... you mess with our citizens ... you pay a steep price. This is the kind of message that I the world expected of a Ronald Reagan ... and it is very refreshing indeed to get it from a Barrack Obama.

I've been listening to the pundits for the last day or so, and there seems to be a consensus that the President's actions were to appease the conservative and pro national defense moderates in the country, but I say ... "So What???" A right decision reached for the wrong reasons is still a right decision.

Now be careful Mr. President, there will be a gnawing feeling in your gut to apologize to the families of these maritime terrorists ... DON'T DO IT! Your actions showed strength, and we absolutely do not want to be viewed as weak by the world. If this was your international "test", you passed with flying colors. Any "extra-credit work" will only lower your grade.

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