B-minus: Obama 2012 approval defined by more than budget, debt ceiling

by Torv Ponder

Even as the budget and debt ceiling negotiations have Americans frustrated at the governmental process no matter where they fall within the political or ideological spectrum, it’s a good time to step back and recall that a Presidency, including the first term of President Barack Obama, is defined by more than a single mere standoff. As voters attempt to decide whether Obama is worthy of reelection in 2012, a number of factors naturally come into play. In the big picture, Obama deserves a B-minus thus far. But that grade is a composite of various areas in which his performance has run the gamut from fantastic to befuddling.

Economy: The matter of the day sees Obama having saved the United States from what should have by all rights been a depression thanks to the failures of his predecessor. But at the same time, Obama hasn’t been able to jumpstart the economy; rather he’s managed to keep it afloat if stagnant. His entire time as President has seen Republicans playing the role of pure villain, attempting to block anything Obama puts forth. That makes him something of a hero simply for continuing to fight. But then again, isn’t the hero supposed to be able to defeat the villains? Grade: B-minus for preventing the Bush Depression from having ever happened.

World relations: Obama managed to get a mixed victory out of Bush’s botched Iraq war, but the jury is still out in Afghanistan. He made a point of finding Osama Bin Laden and, once his location was found, took him out rather than wasting the world’s time with a grandstanding trial. He was prescient enough to remain quiet during revolutions in spots like Egypt where any attempt at over-involvement on America’s part could have motivated the more radical elements within those nations to steer things awry. He’s gotten just about everything right on this front, often by simply keeping his mouth shut at the right times (something too many Presidents don’t understand). Grade: A-minus.

Civil rights: Oops. The TSA is still in operation, still hassling harmless travelers for the sake of security theater in a propaganda game which everyone involved has nothing to do with actual security. Obama should have dismantled the propaganda agency from day one. He’s also failed to make amends for Bush’s other crimes against the Constitution such as wiretapping. And then there’s been his too-tepid support of equal rights for gays, although to his credit his weak support for the issue has been the strongest of any President to date. His health care reform can also be categorized as a civil rights issue, which may be his only real saving grace in this area. But unlike Bush’s tricky economic disasters and complex botched wars, the civil rights travesties enacted by Bush could have largely been fixed by Obama with the wave of an executive order wand. He’s failed to do so in most vital civil rights areas, which proves if nothing else that he’s barely a liberal, if he’s one at all. Grade: D-plus, and this is the area in which it would have been the easiest for him to get it right.

Leadership: The Wall Street Journal recently called Barack Obama a “loser” which is an odd term to apply to someone who won the Presidency in 2008, won the health care reform battle, won the Iraq war, won against Bin Laden, will probably win the 2011 budget battle against and overmatched John Boehner, and is likely to win re-election in 2012 against the lunatic likes of Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, or Mitt Romney – that is, if liberal voters are willing to hold their nose and vote a second time for Obama, who has turned out to be barely a liberal at best.