THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XI, Issue # 304, December 12, 2009
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
PRESIDENT OBAMA'S FIRST YEAR IN THE OVAL OFFICE
By Alan Caruba
YEAR ONE IN THE PRESIDENCY OF BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA: A YEAR OF CONSTANT DISAPPOINTMENT &
GROWING FEARS, REFLECTING A TREND THAT IS UNLIKELY TO CHANGE -- THE AMERICAN PUBLIC'S EMERGING
PERCEPTION OF THE STATE OF AFFAIRS UNDER OBAMA'S LEADERSHIP: AMERICA RISKS LOSING ITS
STATUS AS THE WORLD'S SOLE SUPERPOWER & UNDISPUTED TOP NATION, AS ITS RELATIVE ECONOMIC POWER
WANES.
FULL STORY:
I long ago stopped reading news magazines like Newsweek, Time, and U.S. News and World Report
because they became increasingly useless as a means to know what was actually occurring. Throughout the 2008
presidential campaign, they and others devoted cover after cover to the face of Barack Obama, becoming in the process a
very bad joke. It was a total abnegation of objectivity.
I am soon to drop my subscription to The Economist, a still widely respected news magazine, because it has ceased
to meet even the most fundamental standards of accuracy regarding an alleged “global warming,” even though the planet
has been cooling for a decade.
I am one of those people, though, that saves his magazines as a lens to look back over the year and a review of the
reporting of The Economist in 2009 regarding Obama provides a useful measurement of his first year, as seen by the
magazine. Below are quotes that track his progress or lack of it.
January 17-23 edition: “Mr. Obama seems to be different. By offering the most prized Cabinet job to his rival, Hillary Clinton,
and by keeping Robert Gates, the Defense Secretary, who has done a good job, Mr. Obama has shown a determination not
to surround himself with cronies.”
March 28-April 3 edition: “Hillary Clinton’s most effective quip, in her long struggle with Barack Obama for the Democratic
nomination last year, was the Oval Office is no place for on-the-job training. It went to the heart of the nagging worry about
the silver-tongued young Senator from Illinois; that he lacked even the slightest executive experience, and that, in his brief
career, he had never really stood up to powerful interests, whether in his home city of Chicago or in the wider world. Might
Mrs. Clinton have been right about her foe?”
June 27-July 3 edition: “If he were starting from scratch, there would be a strong case (even to a newspaper as economically
Liberal as this one) for a system based mostly around publicly funded health care. But America is not starting from scratch
and none of the plans in Congress shows an appetite for such a European solution. America wants to keep a mostly private
system — but one that brings in the uninsured and cuts costs. That will be painful, and require more audacity than Mr.
Obama has shown so far.”
August 1-7 edition: “If the opinion polls are to be believed, Barack Obama is now, six months into his Presidency, no more
popular than George Bush or Richard Nixon were at the same stage in theirs. His ratings are sagging particularly badly with
electorally vital independent voters: two-thirds of them think he wants to spend too much of their money.”
October 17-23 edition: “Most of all, Mr. Obama needs to fight this war (in Afghanistan) with conviction. His wobbles over
the last month have done more to comfort his enemies and worry his allies than any recent losses on the ground. Only if he
persuades his troops, his countrymen and the Taliban that America is there for the long haul, does he have a chance of
turning this war around.”
November 28-December 4 edition: “Which will he be, clever or weak? Does this President have a strategy, backed,
if necessary, by force, to reorder the world? Or is he merely a presidential version of Alden Pyle, Graham Greene’s idealistic,
clever Quiet American who wants to change the world, but underestimates how bad the world is — and ends up causing
harm?”
December Special Edition: The World in 2010: “By 2010, moreover, Mr. Obama will no longer be able to fall back on the
excuse that all of this was beyond his control…. The coalition Mr. Obama marshaled in 2008 around the alluring but
ambiguous banner of ‘change’ will splinter…. Mr. Obama will find no consolation on the world stage…. In his second year,
it will become increasingly clear to people at home that America risks losing its status as the world’s sole superpower and
undisputed top nation as its relative economic power wanes.”
I learned, as a journalist, that news is history written in a hurry and usually without all the information easily at hand.
The Economist’s editors reacted to Obama as a growing majority of Americans and others around the world did.
The change in their opinion was palpable.
Americans and the rest of the world have had a year in which to watch Barack Obama and it has been one of constant
disappointment and growing fears. That trend is unlikely to change.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
American Politics, Political Competition, & the Control of
Public Policy: Elections, Political Parties, Political Factions,
Ideologies, Special Interest Groups, & Political Corruption
American Government & the U.S. Presidency:
Presidential Politics & National Leadership
The American Political System:
Politics & Government in the U.S.A.
Alan Caruba writes a daily post at http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com. An author, commentator and business and science
writer, he is the Founder of The National Anxiety Center, a clearinghouse for information about "scare campaigns" designed
to influence public opinion and policy.
Return to Top of Page
Go to the WEBSITE INDEX
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Public Issues & Political Controversies
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
Most Recent Articles
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Volume XI, 2009
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Subject Matter Highlights
Return to POLITICAL EDUCATION Homepage
CONTACT & ACCESS INFORMATION
This is not a commercial website. The sole purpose of the website is to share with interested persons information regarding civics,
civic and social education, political science, government, politics, law, constitutional law and history, public policy, and political
philosophy and history, as well as current and recent political developments, public issues, and political controversies.
POLITICAL EDUCATION, CONSERVATIVE ANALYSIS
POLITICS, SOCIETY, & THE SOVEREIGN STATE
Website of Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr.
Government, Politics, Public Policy, Legal Issues, Constitutional Law, Government & the Economy, Cultural Values, Foreign Affairs,
International Relations, Military Defense & National Security, Geopolitics, Terrorism & Homeland Security, American National Interests,
Political Systems & Processes, Political Institutions, Political Ideologies, & Political Philosophy
INDEX FOR THE ENTIRE WEBSITE
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Conservative & Free-Market Analysis of Government, Politics & Public Policy, Covering Political, Legal, Constitutional, Economic,
Cultural, Military, International, Strategic, & Geopolitical Issues
Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity