It has been one year since history was made in the U.S. with the inauguration of Barack Hussein Obama as the 44th president of the United States.
And in the past 365 days, Obama has had to deal with rising unemployment, crises in the automotive and banking industries, attempted terrorist attacks on U.S. soil, the war on terror overseas, and reforming a healthcare system that would bring coverage to most Americans. He has also traveled the globe extensively advancing the U.S. agenda, and accepting a somewhat controversial Nobel Peace Prize.
He made many promises. Many he kept, including pledges to increase minority access to capital, establish a credit card bill of rights, and increase funding for community-based prevention programs. Some promises he broke, including a pledge to negotiate healthcare reform in televised sessions on C-SPAN, reduce earmarks, and recognize the Armenian genocide. And a lot of promises are still works in progress.
Obama began his job with a 68% approval rating, according to Gallup, but the honeymoon is over. During his first year in office, he averaged a 57% job approval, lower than George W. Bush, who had an average approval of 68%. (However, Bush began his job with a 57% rating.)
“I don’t want to celebrate, and I don’t want to coronate a president– black or otherwise–who sits in office while African Americans are suffering at the level that we are throughout this country in terms of joblessness, in terms of health disparities, in terms of wealth disparities,†said Vincent Hutchings, a professor of political science at the University of Michigan, of the anniversary of Obama’s inauguration.
Despite giving Obama credit for “diminishing some of the more negative implications associated with the economic downturn,†Hutchings is extremely critical of Obama because he believes the president didn’t keep promises made during his candidacy in terms of making government actions more transparent. He also takes issue with the likely failure to close the prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and the continuation of civil liberty violations that started in the previous administration.
But with the nation’s focus on the faltering economy, and the high rate of African American unemployment, the president is being urged to take an even stronger stand on job creation
Obama has three years left in office, and seven if he is reelected. “The key to him getting reelected is how many jobs he creates in three years,” says Warren Ballantine, attorney and host of the Warren Ballantine Show. ” If I was in his Cabinet, my first piece of advice would be: We need to focus on creating jobs and getting this country back to being industrialized where we are creating, manufacturing and exporting things instead of just importing everything in here.â€
Though his poll numbers are low, the election of Obama is the cause of a sharp rise in optimism among African Americans, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey on race . That optimism may also be reflected in an upbeat set of views on other issues, including race relations and expectations for future black progress.
BlackEnterprise.com asked Ballantine, Hutchings, and other experts to grade Obama on his first year in office. Here’s what they had to say:
Cast your vote: How would you grade Obama’s first year in office?
Warren Ballentine, Attorney and Host, “The Warren Ballentine Show”
What is the administration’s overall achievement?
I think it is two things that
they want to achieve before President Obama is out of office. I think they want to get universal healthcare, and I think they want to get jobs re-implemented in this country. With those two things everything else will fall into place.What was the Obama administration’s biggest wins and losses?
I think he had a couple of big wins. I think the appointment of [Supreme Court] Justice Sonia Sotomayor was a huge win for him. I think that the Senate was able to pass a viable measure of healthcare. He has gotten healthcare farther than any prior president. Those are his big wins.
The biggest loss to me is Afghanistan. He is taking on a war that is not winnable. Because he has adopted this war that was given to him by the Bush administration and made it his own child, he is losing a lot of American citizens because of that war.
What’s ahead for the Obama administration in 2010? What are the things he should be tackling?
Job creation. The key to him getting reelected is how many jobs he creates in three years. If he creates a substantial job gain in this country he will be reelected with a landslide. If I was in his cabinet my first piece of advice. ‘Look healthcare is great. This war is your issue, but we need to focus on creating jobs and getting this country back to being industrialized where we are creating, manufacturing, and exporting things instead of just importing everything in here.’
On a scale of A to F, how would you grade Obama on the following topics:
Jobs: C
He is stopping unemployment from happening, but he is not creating new jobs.
Healthcare reform: A+ if there’s a public option.
If not, C-minus.
Economy: A-
He inherited a hot mess from George W. Bush as far as economy goes but if you look at the housing market it is starting to trend back.
Wall Street: C-
We bailed out the bankers on Wall Street and they haven’t put any of the money back into the people’s pocket.
Small business development: A+
He has initiated a lot of programs that will give small businesses development from tax shelters to tax initiatives to loan initiatives.
Housing: A+
What he has done in one year’s time has kind of steadied the housing market, which in some form or fashion did not look like it could be steadied.
National security: B+
While I do feel safe in this country and I think he has done an excellent job with homeland security in this country and abroad, I do not agree with this war in Afghanistan.
Race: F
We must have an open an honest conversation about race in this country.
Overall: A-
He has fought a hell of a fight just to get us in the position we’re in right now.
Vincent Hutchings, Professor of Political Science, University of Michigan
What is your assessment of the past year? How’s Obama doing?
In some respects, he has done about as well as we would have expected. He adhered to some of his campaign promises although not to all of them. He did pass — or will pass — healthcare legislation and his administration is responsible for blunting some of harder the edges of the economic downturn.
What are some of administrations wins and losses?
There are more than a
few cons actually quite a few cons: The idea that there would be no backroom deals, no insider advantages provided to monied interest with respect to healthcare or anything else, that was not fulfilled because of the secret deal that was cut by administration regarding the pharmaceutical companies.Another negative that needs to be kept in mind; the promise to close Guantanamo, the illegal prison out there, in a year. That is not going to happen. Many of the civil liberty violations of the Bush administration had places like Guantanamo and in Iraq and elsewhere continue on.
What’s ahead for the president? What does he need to be focusing on?
Obviously, the economy is going to be a big issue. But, I think there is something else that needs to be said too because a lot of African Americans devoted a lot of effort and a lot of enthusiasm to help get this campaign elected into office. Part of the expectation is that this administration would do something in return for those African Americans and that has not happened. I think the administration needs to be criticized on that front as well.
On a scale of A to F, how would you grade Obama on the following topics:
Jobs: D
I didn’t give him an F because it didn’t get worse. Its hard to give someone a passing grade when… black unemployment is at 16%.I’m not quite sure how we can give someone a passing grade under those circumstances.
Healthcare reform: C. He is going to pass something and they are going to call it healthcare reform, but is it going to bring down costs which are really the big issue for many people.
Economy: C
For the same reason we talked about jobs. The stimulus package kept things from getting worse, but things are pretty bad.
Wall Street: D
Wall Street is engaging in the same practices that they did before. Efforts to regulate them more vigorously seem to be dead on arrival. The administration is not at all committed to any fundamental reforms.
Small business development: Incomplete.
It’s too soon to know. At this stage things don’t look so good. But it may be that there is some greater business development down the road. It is not at all clear that black businesses are getting any additional assistance and may be less under Obama than they did under Bush.
Housing: C
The housing market is in the toilet, but that is not entirely the Obama administrations fault but things haven’t turned around under his watch either.
National security: D
The decision with respect to Afghanistan is a disaster. You can’t have a president who recently received a Nobel peace prize engaged in multiple wars over seas.
Overall: D
Black America is in a depression. And we have a black president. Isn’t that terrific? Well, it would be more terrific if he were doing something about it. And he doesn’t appear to be doing so. I don’t want to congratulate. I don’t want to celebrate and I don’t want to coronate a president black or otherwise who sits in office while African Americans are suffering at the level that we are throughout this country in terms of joblessness, in terms of health disparities, in terms of wealth disparities.
Robert C. Smith, Professor of Political Science, San Francisco State University
What is the administration’s overall achievement?
The overall or overarching achievement of the Obama administration is its sharp break with the domestic and foreign policy approaches of the last eight years. In domestic policy, this involves reordering the taxing and spending priorities of the government, away from the ‘trickle down’ tax cuts for the wealthy approach of the Bush administration toward a more ‘bottoms-up’ program of spending on health, education and infrastructure. In foreign policy although there has been no fundamental break with Bush policies, the President has set a more congenial, non-confrontational tone.
What was the Obama administration’s biggest win and loss?
The administration’s biggest win was passage of the stimulus package the first of last year. The biggest loss –a partial loss — is the compromised healthcare bill. This, however, is also a big win because even the compromised bill, if it eventually passes, constitutes a historic achievement – the first legislation that gives promise of comprehensive health care to most Americans.
What is your assessment of Obama’s first year on the job?
I would give the President an overall grade of C+. Of his four major goals this year — economic stimulus/recovery, health reform, energy/climate change and regulatory reform of the financial sector — he has had unambiguous legislative success on only one – the stimulus package – and it is unclear whether it will result in substantial economic recovery.
What’s ahead for the president?
The Republicans will make fairly good gains in the midterm elections in both the House and the Senate, and this will effectively mean the end of the president’s domestic agenda for his first term. That is, the new Congress will be more conservative and likely block or seriously compromise the President’s domestic agenda (including immigration reform). In the last two years of his administration, therefore, Obama is likely to turn more to foreign policy where he has more power to act independently of Congress.
On a scale of A to F, grade Obama on the following topics:
Jobs: C
Healthcare reform: Incomplete/B-
Economy: C+
Wall Street: C-
Small business development: Incomplete
Housing: Incomplete
National security: B
Overall: C+
Charles J. Ogletree, Professor, Harvard Law School
What has been the Obama administration’s biggest achievement thus far?
The [biggest has been] the ability to persuade members of the House of Representatives and the Senate to pass comprehensive healthcare reform, a success that has not been achieved in decades by any other president or government. It will allow millions of citizens to receive health insurance for the first time and a significant number of those will be African Americans.
What was the administration’s biggest loss?
The administration’s biggest loss was the momentum to build on the stimulus package and to ensure that African American communities receive fundamental funds rather than having those funds held up by governors, mayors, or other local officials at the state level. With $800 billion available to stimulate the economy, we would expect more money being distributed, received, and ultimately transforming jobless African Americans into a working and wage earning citizens.
What is your assessment of Obama’s performance in this past year?
Remarkably, President Obama has accomplished more in the course of 12 months than many presidents have accomplished in two terms. He has had to manage two wars, in Iraq and Afghanistan, develop and get Congress to approve healthcare reform, bail out the financial industry to prevent our country from entering the greatest economic failure since the
Depression, and provide $800 billion in the stimulus package to ensure jobs and income for many parts of our community. The fact that the president has also nominated Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court as the first Latina ever on the court and appointed Elena Kagan as the first woman as solicitor general, Eric Holder the first African American attorney general, and Hillary Rodham Clinton as the secretary of state, reinforces the remarkable team he has put together to run America during his first term.What challenges do you think he might face in the future and what initiatives/legislation should he introduce?
The main challenges will be the economy. Despite the fact that the world is suffering economic losses, it is incumbent on the president to be creative and forward looking in reviving the economy. I think that means a second stimulus package and more focus on jobs, education, and health.
On a scale of A to F, how would you grade Obama on the following topics:
Jobs: B+
Healthcare: A+
Economy: B
Wall Street: B+
Small business development: A
Housing: B
National security: A
Overall: A-
Chris Long, Owner, Long & Associates financial advisors
What is the administration’s overall achievement?
Helping to prevent a collapse of the economy into a Depression.
What was the Obama administration’s biggest win and loss?
The biggest win was getting a healthcare reform bill through both houses of Congress, and the biggest loss was the political capital and time it has taken to get the bills passed has hurt his popularity.
What’s your assessment of Obama’s first year in office?
[This has been] one of the scariest and toughest for the economy since the depression. Obama has done a good job of carefully focusing on each issue he has faced thoughtfully.
What’s ahead for the administration?
A sluggish recovery in 2010 with high unemployment, probable losses in the 2010 Congressional Elections. He will sign a healthcare reform bill in the next couple of months that will likely prove very popular with people in the future just as Medicare is today.
On a scale of A to F, how would you grade Obama on the following:
Jobs: B.
The stimulus helped unemployment from being even higher, but Obama is constrained on the fiscal front due to large deficits.
Healthcare reform: A-
Obama actually has gotten something passed that is a big improvement over the current system, though the process was ugly.
Economy: B
Obama helped to prevent a depression but unemployment is high.
Wall Street: C-
Nothing has changed to date, Congress will be taking up in banking system reforms in 2010.
Small business development: C
Credit is still tight for small business, this is tied to the lack of banking reform and changing the incentive structure for banks.
Housing: B
Obama has said all of the right things, but no fundamental changes have been made the way foreclosures are being handled. Bad foreclosure policy has led to devastation in many urban areas especially in the Midwest which never benefited from the boom in housing prices.
National security: B
Overall: B
This article was written by Marcia A. Wade, Deborah Creighton Skinner, Janell Hazelwood, and Renita Burns
Cast your vote: How would you grade Obama’s first year in office?