President Barack Obama.
By Maddie Sweet & Becca Steele, Guest Commentary
We must take several things into account in order to correctly assess the success of the Obama administration. Firstly, it is unimportant that the current president "inherited a situation". Every president inherits a situation. The severity of the situation is irrelevant to the aptitude of the current administration's handling of that situation. That being said, let us not forget that the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (the bailout) was signed into law by George W. Bush. Thus, it was a policy of the Bush 2 administration, not the current administration and its success or failure must be attributed to that administration. Likewise, it is fair to judge the Obama administration's handling of the effects of the bailout and further legislation prompted by it.
Secondly, when analyzing the actions of a president halfway through his first term as president, it is prudent to keep in mind that the things that have created seemingly "short-term fixes" should yet be judged as being detrimental in the LONG term. Ultimately, two years is much too short of a time period to see any long term results- detrimental or otherwise.
The stimulus package (along with the bailout bill) embodies the Keynesian economic tradition, acknowledging that sometimes the public sector interference in the market is necessary to off put the consequences of poor decisions made by the private sector. This is not a new idea nor is it something the U.S. government has not done before (think the New Deal). This is not to say that we shouldn't take notice of the less than ideal current economic situation, but the stimulus package was created with the intention of avoiding a full-blown depression. The argument is: yes, the economy is still pretty bad, but it could have been worse.
So, was this policy successful? I'd argue it's too early to tell. While it has been stated that we are in a "recovery" from the recession, seeing two consecutive quarters of an increase in GDP, it is clear that the unemployment rate is still very high, around 9.5 percent. So, saying that we are in a "recovery" is pretty optimistic.
Taking a comprehensive look at the Obama administration, it's important to add that Obama has also made waves and created more diversity within the Supreme Court by appointing Justice Sonya Sotomayer and Justice Elena Kagan.
He pulled troops out of Iraq and bolstered the troops in Afghanistan – two things he said he would do and completed within the timetable he had set forth.
The Healthcare bill is tricky to address — the liberals want a public option and the conservatives want repeal. It was a success in that it was passed through both Houses of Congress and signed into law, but also a failure in that no one is truly happy with it. The origins are simple: we saw something that wasn't working (the current healthcare system) and wanted to reform it. The polarization of this country is what kept this bill from being wholly representative of our legislative body.
Obama's stance on "Don't Ask Don't Tell" and gay marriage has weakened since his election. It doesn't look like Obama plans to do much of substance with this area of policy reform, which can be seen as a failure on the part of the administration.
While Obama's success is not cut and dry like each party would have you believe, it's important to look at what he has brought to American politics in general. While in the depths of the hardest economic times since the recession, he continues to try to foster unity and has not ignored other issues. To quote Franklin Roosevelt (the inspiration of our think tank) "It is common sense to take an idea and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something". Obama is trying something and I would argue that additional responsibility and due diligence needs to be paid not only to his administration, but to the United States Congress and its citizens as well. At the end of the day, there's only so much a president's administration can do without the backing of Congress or the public. Republicans- instead of hoping anything Obama comes near will fail, try to bring ideas to the table and be willing to compromise in order to ensure the polices enacted are a success. Everyone loses when a major policy like healthcare fails. Democrats- quit acting like anyone in the Republican Party is a right-wing nut job. It is important to avoid shooting down everything that comes from the right-side of the aisle simply because of its origin. As a think tank, the Roosevelt Institute attempts to look at policy issues from an objective viewpoint and, while that is extremely hard to do as an individual, we can all benefit from trying.
Maddie Sweet is a senior political science major, she can be reached at sweet11@up.edu.
Becca Steele is a senior political science major, she can be contacted at steele11@up.edu.
