Obama's first 100 days

To Newsweek,

I am writing in response to Jonathan Alter and Fareed Zakaria's articles in the May 4 issue evaluating President Obama's first one hundred days in office. I believe that your publication is continuing its habit from the 2008 campaign period of being a one-sided Obama cheerleader. The fact that your magazine has not printed a single satirical cartoon (of many available, see link below) depicting President Obama, when George W. Bush caricatures were a weekly mainstay, is telling. While I think that Obama's performance is above-average thus far (especially on the environment and science fronts, as well as incremental gains in health care, which your columnists did not recognize), how can Alter and Zakaria fill two pages with accolades while neglecting to make even a single criticism or suggestion for improvement?

http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/barackobama/ig/Barack-Obama-Cartoons/

Plenty of nonpartisan journalists and economists have voiced concerns over some of the White House's more questionable actions. Domestically, Alter and Zakaria totally overlooked:

-Problems associated with unfilled staff positions in the Obama government, because of his well-intentioned but flawed "no ties to lobbyists" policy (yet he has packed his economics team with people well connected to Wall Street).
-Corruption allegations associated with some key cabinet nominees.
-Caving to Congressional Democrats during the crafting of the generally helpful but pork-laden Reinvenstment and Recovery Act.
-Backing down on gun control campaign promises (and virtual silence on the issue), despite multiple atrocious mass shootings.
-Retaining Bush-era state secrecy policies despite pledges to be the most transparent administration ever.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/04/06/obama/index.html
-Ambiguity over CIA torture (declaring the practice outlawed and un-American, yet refusing to investigate or prosecute those responsible in the previous regime).
-More mixed signals and controversy over the AIG bonuses.
-Making generous concessions to banks/investors at the expense of taxpayers on TARP.
-Additional billions of Treasury rescue dollars so far have not impelled banks to increase lending, and did not slow the slide of the US auto industry.

While some of these events are out of a president's control, and beyond his influence in the first hundred days, they are at least worth mentioning. I would also like to point out that as of April 29, Alter is incorrect about Obama's budget being approved. Congress did pass interim spending to keep the government running through the summer, but have not passed a version of Obama's massive and contentious $3.6 trillion budget plan that was first proposed in February. According to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, after months of stalemate Congress is preparing to pass merely a nonbinding budget outline this week.

http://www.startribune.com/ politics/43971737.html

On the international front, Obama has been quite successful and very well received by foreign leaders and cheering crowds, which we have seen before. Mending fences with Russia, making overtures to Iran, easing some restrictions with Cuba, and proposing new arms control talks was refreshing news, and several heads of state have noted that Obama simply winning the presidency has done so much to restore America's image. But so far it's been more words than deeds; Europe has not cooperated much with fiscal/monetary policy or Afghanistan, and there has been no progress towards consensus on Iran or peace in the Holy Land. While no one expects Obama to solve global problems overnight, I think his first steps have been exaggerated. After eight frustrating Bush years, I think any new American leader would be celebrated and welcomed abroad, short of Sarah Palin.

One of his first actions as president was to sign the closing of Guantanamo Bay prison. But declaring it so is different than getting it done, and very few detainees have been transferred or tried. Plus Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan may become our new Gitmo, and there have been testimonials of abuse as well. Obama's near silence over the recent Israeli siege of Gaza (that the UN and other aid groups vociferously condemned) spoke volumes to the Muslim world, regardless of his pledge that the US is a friend. And lastly, Iraq is barely on his radar, even though it was a prominent aspect of his early campaign identity. Violence has spiked recently, and he may find it difficult to adhere to his pledge to bring all combat troops home by the end of 2011.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/168022
http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2009/03/09/bagram/index.html?source=rss

He has performed reasonably well considering the circumstances, but I feel that your writer's unwavering praise is somewhat premature and misleading at this point.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103540635