Week 1 Blog

OBAMA PRESIDENCY OFF TO A GOOD START

Barack Obama was not blessed with a honeymoon period. Instead, from the moment our nation's 44th President was inaugurated into office, Americans expected action. While jobs continue to be cut in America, and the economy continues to sink, Americans could be forgiven if they do not see the "change" that Obama promised citizens. In an opinion article on realclearpolitics.com, though, Ruth Marcus makes the argument that thus far into his term, Obama has not done a bad job.

Marcus did acknowledge, however, that Obama had a bad week. There was the issue of the President's nominee for health secretary, Tom Daschle, not paying his taxes and thus resigning from the position. Of course, the economic stimulus plan that Obama proposed was not well-liked by everybody, and Republicans are not happy that a good portion of what went into the bill was controlled solely by House Democrats. Marcus points out, however, that Obama is just settling in, taking in the reins of a position that is very difficult for anybody to take over successfully, especially during the economic times this country is in now.

Marcus then points out what Obama has accomplished that are clear positives for the country going forward. He signed into law two pieces of legislation, one that focused on pay discrimination, and another that dealt with children's health care. Marcus then goes on to give Obama credit for the stimulus bill that will get passed within the next month and how it closely matches the figures he had proposed.

It is clear that Obama was given a lot to take in all at once. Marcus makes a good point when she states that Obama cannot fix everything so quickly. But he has shown promise. And who else in recent years has shown as much of it as Obama has? From this writer's point of view, things are looking upwards for America, we just need to clean up the mess before we can renovate the building.

Senate Passes Stimulus Bill

ABC News has reported that the stimulus package that President Obama proposed has made its way through the United States Senate. The $838 billion dollar plan had met strong opposition from Republicans in Congress, creating a divide that contradicts Obama's methods of change, and uniting the people to the common cause. However, three Republican Senators, both Maine representatives and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, sided with the left on this issue and voted the bill forward. Next up for the bill is a conference with the House of Representatives, who approved a $819 billion version of the bill late last month. The houses of Congress will have to agree on a version of the bill before a final vote can be taken. No House Republicans voted for the bill, and the Republican Senators that supported it warned that they could change sides if there are too many changes when the bill is made to fit both sides interests.

Honestly, it is more than a little ridiculous for the two sides to be fighting so much and taking such hard lines against the other side. However, what is an even bigger surprise is that Obama cares all that much about what the Republicans have to say about anything. Obama is a Democrat, and the Democrats have a clear majority in both houses of Congress, so Obama does not really have to worry much about what the right wing has to say. However, he wants the Republicans to agree with him for some reason, and I do not see how that can possibly happen. Obama should simply stick to what the majority of Congress does, and the majority is on his side.

Fox News: The American Pessimists

On the main page of the Fox News website, Fox claims to be a news source that is "fair & balanced." While most people realize this is simply not true, it does not take long for the average American to see the right wing slant this website takes. In a continuing report that focuses on what Obama is doing during his first 100 days of office, that the President is betting his political future on the stimulus bill. That if it doesn't work, his presidency will be a failure and nothing good will come out of the Obama administration. While some of this may be true, the degree that Fox takes with this story is astounding. The article goes in-depth about all the possible negatives that can come about from the stimulus plan, but fails to mention what positives could result. The author of the article pulls all the negative quotes from Obama for the article, and it seems that the only favorable thing written about the President in the entire article is that he has a high approval rating of 67 percent.

Right wingers can criticize the liberal media all they want. At the end of the day, though, it does not go to this extent to criticize a President. Saying that, in masked words of course, that when this stimulus bill fails, Obama's reelection campaign will not be successful is not an unbiased statement. The approval rating that Fox mentions in the article shows that Obama is liked by 2/3rds of the American people, yet they cannot think of anything else to say about the President but what could happen if it fails. They do not mention the result of it succeeding, probably because deep down Fox News does not want Obama to succeed.

We live in an age where supposedly unbiased media is becoming extremely biased, and when a simple article about Obama's stimulus plan can turn the writers into Chicken Little, proclaiming that the sky is falling on Obama's presidency, you know something is not right.