Every administration promises great change, how does Obama stack up?

Obama scores high on rhetoric; on action, the review is mixed. In our overall evaluation of the first 100 days, we gave the administration a score of 7.

INTRODUCTION
The United States is facing the largest economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Unemployment rates are soaring, people are losing their houses, and the social safety net is too weak to catch everyone from slipping into poverty. Meanwhile, on the global front, the United States faces the threat of climate change, nuclear proliferation, and diminishing sources of energy to fuel the economy. We are bogged down in wars abroad and losing the war on poverty at home.

Anyone who wants to lead the United States at such a time must be either crazy or very, very confident. Barack Obama, who comes into office at this perilous moment for his country and for the world, certainly falls into the second category. During the presidential campaign, he promised sweeping changes. Since taking office in January, he has quickly assembled his administrative team, given several authoritative addresses to the nation, and acted very decisively on several fronts.

Rolling back many of the policies of the Bush administration, the new president has embraced a nuclear abolition agenda, changed U.S. approach to counterterrorism, announced the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, introduced several large domestic spending packages, and promised a great deal more.

Many U.S. progressives worked hard to get Barack Obama elected. And many progressives around the world cheered his victory. The new president takes office with a mandate for change. But has the new U.S. president offered the change necessary to confront the multiple new threats that assail America and the globe? Or has he only addressed the tip of the iceberg? ...

Visit Thirsting for Change: Obama’s First 100 Days Download Page

You can download Thirsting for Change: Obama’s First 100 Days in PDF format.

Institute for Policy Studies
Tel: 202 234 9382 x 227
Email: info@ips-dc.org
1112 16th St. NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20036
http://www.ips-dc.org

About the Authors
Chester Hartman is an associate fellow at IPS and the founding Executive Director of the Poverty & Race Research Action Council.
John Feffer is the codirector of the Foreign Policy In Focus project at the Institute for Policy Studies.

Institute for Policy Studies (IPS-DC.org) strengthens social movements with independent research, visionary thinking, and links to the grassroots, scholars and elected officials. Since 1963 it has empowered people to build healthy and democratic societies in communities, the United States, and the world.

Mandate for Change (mandate4change.org) aims to strengthen the Obama administration at a time when the need for progressive policies — and appointing progressive people to lead such efforts — is most urgent.

Comments (0)

Name

Email

Comment

smaller | bigger

Add Comment