Obama's First Year

When Barack Obama was sworn into office a year ago, I did not have as high of hopes as others, but I still expected some big things. One of the first things he did was close Guantanamo Bay, a widely popular move and a smart one in my opinion. He also set forth a withdrawal of troops from Iraq, stating that, 18 months from March, our combat mission would be done. He also made plans for Afghanistan that included a similar 18 month timetable that started on Dec. 1. Obama also attempted to reach out to the Middle East, though he did little more than giving them speeches. I personally believe that he could have done a bit more, but understand that it will have to be a slow process to bridge the gap.

One fairly unpopular move in some eyes was the stimulus package that Obama signed into law. Many felt it was excess spending and were appalled to find out certain companies were using stimulus money irresponsibly. I believe that more should have been done to place rules on what it could and could not be used on. Another economic move was when Obama renewed loans for General Motors and Chrysler. He also had the US take a 60% stake in GM, a move that frightened many proponents of small government.

Barack Obama also reversed several Bush-era policies, such as the limiting of funding to stem cell research and the ban of federal funding to foreign establishments that allow abortions. These are party issues, so they pleased who you would expect.

The largest thing, however, was healthcare reform, one of his campaign promises which he set forth to deliver. However, many critics attacked the cost of the bill, the scope of it and even the president himself. He was called a socialist by some critics (which is completely untrue, unless you have a grave misunderstanding as to what socialism actually is, in which case we need to talk). After that, he took a more hands-off approach, which I think was the wrong thing to do. I think he should have pushed it as far as he could have and maybe then it would have been a less bitter battle.

All in all, I am decently satisfied with his first year. I think he could have done more on certain fronts, but it was still as good a first year as any. I give Obama a B- for solid effort but nothing exemplary.