Barack Obama’s First One Hundred Days in Office

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Barack Obama’s First One Hundred Days
Media Coverage
Comparisons
Legislation and executive orders
Conclusion
Works Cited

Introduction

Barack Obama is the forty fourth president of the United States of America and he is also the first African American president in the history of the United States. He is officially known as Barack Hussein Obama II and he was the junior senator of the United States representing Illinois from the year 2005 to the year 2008 when he resigned to assume the presidency of the United States. He started his presidential campaign in February of the year 2007 and he defeated Hilary Clinton in the Democratic Party nomination and he defeated John McCain of the Republican Party to be elected as the forty fourth president of the United States of America (Bleeker).

His presidency started after his inauguration into office with Joe Biden as his Vice President in January 20, 2009. His presidency started at noon of January 20, 2009 according to the constitution of the United States which states that a new president whether sworn in or not starts at noon of the inauguration day. After assuming presidency, his administration was faced with the uphill task of addressing the global financial crisis and so he leaned towards implementing financial policies which included tax policies. He did not also ignore the strained foreign policy that was brought about by the George Bush Doctrine and hence he started some initiatives that were deemed to phase out prisoner detention in Guantanamo Bay which is located in Cuba (Chernus).

Barack Obama’s First One Hundred Days

Obama’s first one hundred days presidency started as soon as he was inaugurated on January 20, 2009 into office as the forty fourth president of the United States of America. To this effect his hundredth day at the office will be marked on April 29, 2009. It is important to note that the first one hundred days presidency is a very important historical aspect of the United States as it was first mentioned by Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s administration when he assumed the presidency of the United States of America and the country was facing many problems chief among them being the Great Depression which was affect the world economy and which started in the United States after the collapsing of the stock markets. To this effect, in the United States, the first one hundred days are considered to be a benchmark under which the success of any president can be gauged as early as possible (Reeves).

When Obama became the presumptive nominee, his first one hundred days in the office have been highly anticipated throughout the United States as well as throughout the world. In his first interview of 60 Minutes, the president asserted that he the knowledge of the importance of the first one hundred days and this is because he was well acquainted with Roosevelt’s First 100 days and that he appreciated the symbolism and the significance of the first 100 days. These sentiments were greatly aired by his Democratic Party nomination rival Hilary Clinton who would later support the presidency when Obama won the nomination of the Democratic Party (Montanaro).

Obama started preparing for his first one hundred days in office during the presidential transition immediately after winning the election. It is to this effect that the stated that America will always have and have always had one president at a time and this was in respect to the fact that the foreign policy of a president was very different from the foreign policy of another president regardless of whether the period was in a presidential transition. During the first one hundred days of a president, the administration is closely scrutinized and is required to make major administrative policies on both local and foreign politics. The president is the one who is greatly scrutinized and their various adjustments are watched closely by the public through the media and other channels of information (Naughton).

Obama began his creation of presidential footprints for his first one hundred in office and this can be witnessed by the fact that he has already called for support for his economic reforms which are deemed to be a stimulant package through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. This bill passed on January 28, 2009 in the house and also in the Senate on February 10, 2009 by a good margin of 61 – 37. It is important however to note that Obama has stated that his presidency should not be judged by his first one hundred days and he argued that although the first one hundred days are important but probably the first thousand days are the days that are going to make a difference of the administration (Bleeker).

Media Coverage

Although President Obama has attempted to downplay the importance of his first one hundred days, these days have been highly anticipated and the media has not been left behind. This anticipation started immediately when he became the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party. Several media corporations around the world such as CNN, CBS News and FOX News have come up with important slots for the coverage of the president’s first one hundred days in office. The media has played a very important role in analyzing the challenges and the priorities that the Obama administration has on various issues concerning domestic and foreign policies, the economic situation of the country and also the environmental issues. Of importance is the analysis that was done by CNN which highlighted the important issues that the president and his team had to tackle and chief among them was the economic recovery and reinvestment policies which were deemed to be very important for the economy of the United States as well as the world economy. This was especially in relation to the current global financial crisis (Montanaro).

Other major media networks in the country as well as in the world although not having dedicated a slot have noted the importance of the president’s first one hundred days and it is in this respect that the media networks have dedicated some of their headlines as concerning President Obama’s first one hundred days in the office. A good example of these media networks include Microsoft News and Al Jazeera which is based in Malaysia (Chernus).

British Broadcasting Service (BBC) world service has also released an opinion poll which was responded to by more than seventeen thousand people in seventeen countries concerning Obama’s first one hundred days in office. It is important to note that the poll results indicated that 67 percent of the people who responded were confident with President Obama’s foreign policy and they were of the view that his foreign policy would improve the relationship of the United States with other countries. The most positive countries about the foreign relation of the Obama administration were the Italians and Germans and eighty percent of the respondents from these countries felt that the Obama administration would improve the foreign relations of the country with the other countries around the world (Naughton).

One of the outstanding issues that have to be tackled by President Obama and his team is the Guantanamo Bay detention camp and human rights lawyer based in Britain felt that there were good chances that the Obama administration would close the detention camp within the first one hundred days in the office. This lawyer goes by the name of Clive Stafford Smith. There were speculations that Obama would return to his former home city of Jakarta after aides made the announcement that the president would make a speech in one of the Islam capitals concerning his foreign policy (Smith).

A five day series that was spread over a fortnight that was hosted by the New York Times aired public anticipation of the first one hundred days of Obama’s presidency. During the five days, there was the analysis of a political analyst and the public was around a basis under which they would freely post blogs. In this series, the writers compared the prospects of President Obama and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, President John F. Kennedy, President Lyndon B. Johnson and President Richard Nixon (Bleeker).

Other international organizations have not been left out either from the anticipation of the achievements of President Obama in his first one hundred days as president and one of the most notable organizations is the Amnesty International. This organization has already planned a special strategy to indicate the achievements of the president in his first one hundred days presidency politically. This has been done through the organization organizing a hundred days campaign for the promotion of human rights around the world. It is important to note that America is very influential in the world forums and hence the importance of the president of the United States one hundred days of presidency incorporation in world affairs to gauge how the administration will work towards various issues that are affecting the world (Montanaro).

Comparisons

Before the Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution, the presidents of the United States were rarely subjected to microscopic comparison at the beginning of his term. The only presidents to have been urged to make notable impact in the history of the United States were Presidents Lincoln and Roosevelt because the country needed urgent reforms to address various issues that were plaguing the country. However, after the amendment, the country has embarked on a policy of comparing the achievements of a newly elected president through his first one hundred days in office in relation to other presidents who have faced similar challenges (Smith).

President Barack Obama also faced an urgency under which the citizens of the United States and the world at large were suffering due to some policies that the country had been subjected to by the Bush Administration. One of the urgent tasks that the administration of Obama faced was the Bush Doctrine that was concerned with the foreign policy of the country. The most important aspect was the wars that the United States was involved in and they include the war with Afghanistan and Iraq. The occupation of these two countries by NATO under the directives of the United States and the country providing the majority of the forces has been meted with great criticism around the world. This is because the way has been deemed not to have been warranted but fueled by the interest of a few people. In the same respect the deployed armies in Iraq have been subjected to too much suffering which has brought a lot of suffering to their families back at home (Naughton).

Many people had the view that the new president would ensure that all the military personnel deployed would be recalled before one hundred days in his presidency. This has played a very important role with his foreign policy which has been deemed to be very effective by various quarters although he has failed in recalling the military personnel from Iraq (Reeves).

President Barack Obama also had the uphill task of ensuring that the country resumed its economical stability that had been greatly undermined by the global economic recession as well as the global financial crisis. His economic polices had to address major economic reforms within the first one hundred days and this would have to be compared with his predecessor’s policies. The fact that President George W. Bush’s administration failed in various policies like the economic policies and the foreign policy, the Obama administration has to ensure that it works in eradicating all the negative policies and coming up with policies which will address the problems the country is currently facing. It is important to note the public needs to see the workability of this reforms within the first one hundred days of his presidency and this means that his administration will be greatly compared against that of George W. Bush (Chernus).

By the virtue that Obama has greatly compared himself with President Abraham Lincoln who is considered to be one of the greatest presidents of all times, his administration will also be compared to Lincoln’s administration. The service delivery will be very instrumental and the most important thing to note here is that he will be deemed to have been successful within the first one hundred days in his office. But since Obama inherited a contingent of administrative problems, he has argued that the first one hundred days are not very important and that the change the country is looking for can be achieved in a thousand days (Thomas).

By the fact that he is to be compared by Lincoln’s achievement, then it means that his administration will also be compared to such administrations which have been deemed to be very important in the history of the United States. One of the key administrations is that of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt which also came into power when the country was facing the Great Depression very similar phenomena to that of the current financial crisis. This means that the way the administration will handle the current global financial crisis will play a very important in the ratings of his presidency and the most important time to address this issue is during his first one hundred years in office. It will also be compared to such administrations as those of Bill Clinton who is considered to be one of the most influential presidents of United States of America (Montanaro).

Legislation and executive orders

After taking the oath of office, his administration especially Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel directed that all last minute federal regulations that had been pushed by former President Bush to be suspended and directed that they be reviewed. As a measure to reduce the effects of the economic crisis, he also enacted a salary freeze of all senior White House staff and thereby saving approximately a hundred thousand United States Dollars. He also came up with stricter guidelines for lobbyists hence ensuring that the White House portrayed a higher ethical standard (Bleeker).

Another important landmark executive order is his signing of an executive order which put to a stop all Guantanamo Bay proceedings. He also banned torture and various coercive techniques of interrogating suspected terrorists and in place he signed the executive order that required Army Field Manual to be used instead. In a reaction that has been deemed to have been precipitated by the energy crisis, he signed a presidential memorandum that required various sectors of the economy to practice fuel efficiency programs. He also in an effort to increase the communication between the public and the White House established and implemented a policy which the White House produced online videos of the president’s speech through and through. The productions have been viewed by many people around the country and also around the world (Naughton).

Nine days after his inauguration he signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act which reduced the limitations under which a person can file of discrimination on the grounds of payments. He also signed into law the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIP) which had the objective of increasing the number of children under the plan from seven million to eleven million. Another important legislation that he has signed into law is the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) although this Act had faced a lot of debate. This signing has been deemed to be very influential in reducing the effects of the global financial crisis although the Republicans were grossly against the signing of the bill into law (Chernus).

President Obama also lifted stem cell research restrictions and this was against one of the signings of the George W. Bush. He however stated that the lift was due for other signing statements if the research was deemed to contain some unconstitutional elements after a review of the bill concerning the research. He also signed into law a bill that increased the tobacco tax by 62 cents per every packet of cigarettes. It is important to note that the tax is currently being used to fund the health insurance of children and at the same time playing an important role in encouraging young smokers to quit smoking (Thomas).

Conclusion

The first one hundred days of Obama have been very positive although he still argues that the country needs changes that cannot be delegated upon within his first one hundred days. The numerous executive orders and legislations have given the people hope that he will make a good president and his policies will have a grossly positive impact on the lives of the people. To this effect, he is considered to be the president the people of the United States as well as the people of the world have been waiting for to assume the seat of the most powerful person in the world. It has been deemed by some experts that he will have higher ratings than other presidents and that he may be one of the few people to come out of office with a higher rating which currently has been only afforded to former President Bill Clinton and Franklin Delano Roosevelt among a few others.

Works Cited

Bleeker, Andrew (2008). “Your Weekly Address from the President-elect”. Change.gov. The Office of the President-elect. Web.

Chernus, Ira (2008). “The First Hundred Days or the Last Hundred Days?” The LA Progressive. Web.

Montanaro, Domenico (2009). “First 100 days: Selling the stimulus”. MSNBC.com. Web.

Naughton, Philippe (2009). “Barack Obama calls halt to Guantanamo trials“. The Times. Web.

Reeves, Richard (2009). “Kennedy’s Words, Obama’s Challenge”. The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Web.

Smith, Jean Edward (2009). “How F.D.R. Made the Presidency Matter”. The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Web.

Thomas, Archie (2009). “World watches Obama inauguration: International audiences have mixed views”. Variety. Web.

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