Thursday, April 23, 2009
More than a year ago, I stood in a crowded building, wearing my prized “Barack Chalk Jayhawk” shirt, making sure that people who had come to support a certain Illinois senator weren’t swayed to move to a different corner, symbolically supporting another candidate (or, as the case turned out, looking for a less crowded area).
It was the Kansas Democratic caucus and we were at the Douglas County Fairgrounds. Outside were the beginnings of a rather inconvenient snowstorm, and inside, a few thousand people were wishing others would hurry up and let them leave.
During the caucus, a man who had been lingering in the “uncommitted” section for some time asked me a question I wasn’t prepared for: “What will Barack Obama do in his first hundred days as President?”
The first hundred days are supposedly an indicator of what a president’s term will look like. This is best exemplified by Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush, whose first hundred days in office accurately predicted the rest of his two terms of relative peace, economic growth and general domestic contentment.
Wait, hold on, what? Sorry about that, folks. I’ve just been informed that the rest of Bush’s presidency was nothing like that. In fact, it seems that those next seven years and 265 days saw quite a bit of international conflict, cynicism among Americans — the likes of which Nixon wouldn’t have wished on anyone — and of course, the rise of the ShamWow. I have no idea how that last one is Bush’s fault, actually, but I choose to blame him anyway.
The first hundred days of a presidency really aren’t that relevant. For all the times I’ve been told the first three and a half months of a term make up the most significant part, nobody has ever really explained how they matter so much. Most, if not all, of the Cabinet is put together in that time, sure, but those positions have a habit of rotating. How many attorneys general did President Bush go through, again?
If I could have looked into the future, I would certainly have a lot to tell that man at the caucus (I also wouldn’t have started compiling a list of fun ways I could slander Mitt Romney, and maybe would have bought more lottery tickets). I would have loved to say, “He’ll ride on a gallant steed into the White House and fix the world’s problems with a golden sword,” but I don’t think the man was quite high enough to accept that. And although it is great to look at what President Obama has accomplished as the arbitrary hundred-days milestone approaches, there’s no real way anyone can tell for sure what is going to happen the rest of his time in office.
I’m an optimist for sure, but I’m also, at least occasionally, a realist. Maybe that’s what I should have told the man at the caucus (who ended up standing in the “Obama section” anyway): Watch those first hundred all you want, but don’t start breathing again once they’re over, whether you like the guy in office or not.
— Cohen is a Topeka junior in political science.
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Comments
Cohen: First 100 days an irrelevant mark
So we shouldn’t judge Obama for not saving the country from an economic downturn in his first 100 days, but we can blame Bush for the lower satisfaction of Americans after 9/11?
Cohn, the biggest problem I have with you is you’re a divider. You still look at 60s era politics and think that’s the solution. “We have to break the back of the machine.” You are perpetually on the outside, even when your president is in. You don’t care about solutions, figuring out what is best for the country and the world it operates in. You care about being right for the sake of the other person being wrong.
Here would have been a good argument for you: “Take Clinton for example: His first 100 days included ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ the inability to find an Attorney General and Waco, Texas. Yet, despite those first 100 days, he managed to balance the budget and bring economic prosperity to the country.” Yada yada yada, maybe you could fill in the rest with specific examples of buds of progress and defeat that Obama can expand on or over come.
Instead, you ranted about not liking Bush and how we shouldn’t have been so overzealous to expect great things from Obama.
Cohen: First 100 days an irrelevant mark
Sorry, didn't intend to make it appear as if I were quoting from the article. It's my impression Cohn tends to state his position is always fighting against something larger and always at odds with his ultimate goal. I understand my error there.
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