INKS | Analyzing the first hundred days of President Barack Obama
One hundred days. The symbolic benchmark that we have used to measure our presidents since President Franklin Roosevelt is upon us.
For many, the past few months have been full of "yes we can" moments, but behind all of the hype and glamour, how has President Barack Obama performed in his first 100 days in office?
On the one hand, he has done some great things: increased government transparency, stood up against the use of torture, encouraged the use of alternative energies, etc.
On the other hand, in his first 100 days, he has authorized an unprecedented amount of spending while doing little to resolve many of the other major issues affecting the country.
Under President Obama the government has bailed out General Motors and Chrysler, only to leave them on the brink of bankruptcy.
There was the $787 billion "stimulus" package that was rammed through Congress with hardly any debate. Not only did that bill get passed without being read through, it hardly had any economic stimulus in it.
Then we have the president's budget, which is filled with even more unnecessary spending.
Since he took the Oath of Office, Obama's approval rating has been on a slight but steady decline, and this will continue as Americans realize he cannot live up to the expectations from the 2008 campaign.
Sen. Obama promised to have U.S. troops out of Iraq by 16 months after he became president, but President Obama changed that to 19 months, with some troops left in Iraq until the end of 2011.
At the beginning of his term, he issued an executive order pledging to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center, but so far no action has been taken to move those prisoners to another detention facility.
The president said he saw no need for the prosecution of Bush officials who engaged in enhanced interrogation techniques, but when some liberals were angered over this, he modified his opinion and said he would let Attorney General Eric Holder decide whether Bush's legal advisers should be prosecuted for their involvement in interrogation techniques.
Again, this appealed to many Obama supporters, but in the end, it will most likely result in another broken promise.
No matter if you are for or against torture, most people will agree it would be very difficult to prosecute the Bush Administration attorneys for simply giving a legal opinion. Giving a legal opinion, even if it is a controversial one, is just simply not a crime and the prosecution of the Bush attorneys would not only be difficult - it would be unprecedented.
Not only are the hollow promises of Obama being exposed, but his overall immaculate image is becoming tarnished.
Earlier this week, the president's teleprompter malfunctioned, and the president's lack of finesse was revealed. During the campaign, many viewed him as a great speaker comparable to President Clinton; however, unlike President Clinton, Obama lacks elegance without his teleprompter.
As the hype and glamour around him begins to fade, one thing is becoming clearer: Many Americans expected too much out of Sen. Obama.
And now that he is president, it is becoming apparent that he can never live up to all of those expectations.
Nathan Inks is chairman of the College Republicans.
