My goodness ... Barack Obama has been president for nearly 100 days and he has not managed to solve all the problems left behind by the Bush administration. There must be something wrong with him, or with "liberal" policies -- at least that's what Jackson Diehl at the Washington Post seems to think.New American presidents typically begin by behaving as if most of the world's problems are the fault of their predecessors -- and Barack Obama has been no exception. In his first three months he has quickly taken steps to correct the errors in George W. Bush's foreign policy, as seen by Democrats. He has collected easy dividends from his base, U.S. allies in Europe and a global following for not being "unilateralist" or war-mongering or scornful of dialogue with enemies.Come on Diehl, we didn't get into this mess overnight. And until the economy is fixed, and our troops are out of Iraq, it IS the fault of George W. Bush. He took a great economy, and a world pretty much at peace, and turned it all upside down.
Now comes the interesting part: when it starts to become evident that Bush did not create rogue states, terrorist movements, Middle Eastern blood feuds or Russian belligerence -- and that shake-ups in U.S. diplomacy, however enlightened, might not have much impact on them. [...]
Obama is not the first president to discover that facile changes in U.S. policy don't crack long-standing problems. Some of his new strategies may produce results with time. Yet the real test of an administration is what it does once it realizes that the quick fixes aren't working -- that, say, North Korea and Iran have no intention of giving up their nuclear programs, with or without dialogue, while Russia remains determined to restore its dominion over Georgia. In other words, what happens when it's no longer George W. Bush's fault? That's what the next 100 days will tell.
Is it reasonable to expect President Obama to "fix" the Bush mess in less than 100 days? No.
7 comments:
It's not so much to expect Obama to fix everything that George Bush has done in the last eight years, however...look at how much Obama is embracing what George Bush did. For example, Obama's decision to expand the Faith Based Initiatives, leaving intact and expanding the powers to spy on Americans, showing that Bush and his cohorts tortured and then refusing to punish them for it, with the excuse, "That's all in the past."
The list goes on and on and I'm beginning to wonder when that "change" in coming.
I keep hearing from others that they will hold Obama's feet to the fire...and yet I see nary a spark, only excuses for him.
Just sayin'....
While I have not been all that happy with everything that Obama has done I do think that he has inherited the worst job in history.
I do admire his approach in general and think he is a positive and intelligent president.
So far so good. No matter what office he ran for, he got something much more complicated and far, far worse than could be imagined.
Frankly, 4 years may not be enough.
He'll never please all of the people all of the time, but I'm far more happy with the things he's doing than I am bent out of shape by the things he's not doing.
Excuses? No. Realistic.
Hey, guys, this isn't Dave, The West Wing, or The American President.
In the real world, it takes time to fix big problems and hard compromises have to be made. It was George Bush and the idiots who voted for him that believed in those silly Hollywood fantasies, and look where it got us.
While I'm certainly not happen with some of the decisions Obama has made, it's comforting to see an adult who's talking to the American people like adults about how difficult the next few years are going to be, and I can live with that.
It lets me know that competent adults are back in charge.
I agree. There are things I'd like to see done that haven't been done yet, and a few policies that I hope he'll realize he should change, but by and large most of what he is doing is going in the right direction and I am so glad to have a president I can feel proud of again.
OK, you convinced me. Let's give him until next Tuesday. That ought to be enough time.
Thanks for all your comments. I, too, am not happy with everything President Obama has done (or not done), but to suggest he should have everything "fixed" in less than 100 days (or assume total responsibility) seems absurd.
BAC
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