Quote:
Originally Posted by buckman
WHAT'S THE GRADE SPENCE???????
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I'd give him a B-
His biggest failure is certainly how badly the Admin managed the early phases of the health care debate and ceding far too much face time to the House in the process of what is landmark legislation.
I also think he's backtracked on transparency promises, which is disturbing as it's something they actually control.
While many think the stimulus was unnecessary, a lot of economists believe is has helped avert a recession turning into a depression.
Obama has moved to the right on many foreign policy issues. He's slowed down promises to exit Iraq, close GITMO and started escalating troops in Afghanistan even before it was recommended by the military, to which he's granted their request and is spending even more on US Defense than Bush.
Spending is certainly a concern, but he inherited this trajectory from Bush. We'll see if he can reign Congress in on this as it will be huge in the mid-terms.
I think his outreach to the Islamic world has been a positive that if continued can bring long-term benefits.
He's passed a lot of legislation to preserve forests and natural areas, provide money to clean up urban areas, clean technology development, helped with college tuition assistance and even came through on the electronic medical records stuff which is supposed to save a lot of money in health care.
You've got to agree that he didn't have an easy 100 days. Inheriting two wars, a global PR disaster, a huge recession etc...so he's certainly made some mistakes, but all things considered I'd say slightly better than average.
-spence