First 100 Days

Dear Victorious,

What do you make of Obama's first 100 days? What do you like? What do you dislike?

Balanced Critic

Dear Balanced,

I'm no expert on the U.S. presidency, so my views - like most Americans - are going to look like those of an "arm chair quarterback," to coin a phrase. So far, I have to admit I think more favorably of both Barack and Michelle Obama than I expected to. They've been surprising in some very good ways.

I like most of what Obama has done with foreign affairs. His partnership with Hillary Clinton intrigues me. She seems to be very effective. They seem to work well together. In fact, his partnership with Hillary looks stronger than his partnership with Joe Biden. There's quite a bit more that I like. The "Obama plan" for mortgages may seem frustrating in that it looks to enable the bad behavior of mortgage borrowers. On the other hand, it goes quite far in putting some sense, logic and order to the process of mortgage modifications. If you've read it (and I have), there is a strong component for accountability on the part of average Americans screaming for a mortgage bailout. I like that.

I'm not so sure about the auto industry or the banks. I think I would have been quicker to nationalize GM and Chrysler - putting them both into bankruptcy earlier in the game. It will take bankruptcy to kill off the toxic choke hold that the unions have over the auto industry. I'm also a little disappointed in the lack of humility demonstrated in Obama. Frankly his wife seems to play the humble card better than he does. Obama takes a little more credit than I think he should. It seems he uses "I' more often than "we."

Are you getting my drift here? These are not big things.

I suppose the biggest frustration I have with Obama is his inability to address the national debt and other fiscal issues that threaten our nation's livelihood. Frankly, I consider those to be bigger threats than Iran, North Korea, radical Muslims or the swine flu!

Overall, I think we have a decent president. Perhaps the best thing is that we have a nation and a world that are responding to him in much more positive ways than we were responding to the president we had just a few months ago.