Locals rate Obama after 1st 100 days
The 100-day benchmark for new presidents irks political-science Associate Professor Cary Covington.
“It’s symbolic and meaningless,” he said. “No president should be judged by what he does in a hundred days.”
Originating from Franklin Roosevelt’s busy first 100 days, the measure is now a requisite, ubiquitous way to assess a nascent president’s efficacy.
And President Obama is no different.
“He’s been doing a real good job at spending money,” UI College Republicans President Derek Bohlke said sarcastically, pointing to the stimulus plan and bank bailout out as paragons. Bohlke did favor Obama’s move to send 17,000 additional troops to Afghanistan.
In contrast, UI sophomore and former University Democrats President Lucas Oglesbee spoke positively of the stimulus plan, describing it as the “very beginning of what’s going to turn the economy around.”
“I think President Obama had a very ambitious agenda for his first 100 days, and I think a lot of the policy initiatives that he has proposed, he’s made really good on,” Oglesbee said.
The schism between student partisans is typical of the nation, Covington said.
While Obama is enjoying high approval ratings — 63 percent, according to Gallup — his disapproval rating is relatively high as well — 31 percent. It’s a common occurrence for post-Reagan presidents, Covington said, because of the country’s increased polarization, the rise of talk radio, and left- and right-wing media catering to consumers’ political leanings.
Historically speaking, Obama’s current popularity is relatively strong.
Obama’s first-quarter polling approval rating average of 63 percent is the highest since 1977, when Jimmy Carter was president. It is also the fourth highest since 1953.
It’s that resilient popularity early on that has impressed Bruce Gronbeck, a UI professor emeritus of communication studies.
“That he has been able to maintain that coming with the storm of proposals … I think is a very good sign,” he said.
Politics and ideology aside, Gronbeck said, Obama has also been superb at communicating with the public and has maintained the same tone as he had during the campaign.
“I think, with the public, he has done a phenomenal job,” Gronbeck said. “He has done an absolute media bombardment.”
Gronbeck also praised Obama’s stops in cities across the country — including last week’s in Newton, Iowa — that Gronbeck said bring him additional local media coverage and remind citizens of the “worshipful” parts of his campaign.
“That only strengthens him in the public opinion polls,” Gronbeck said.
While the 100-day mark is highly publicized, Obama’s term is still in its early stages, Covington stressed.
No policy enacted under Obama has had a “meaningful impact yet, so we’re just going to have to wait and see,” said Covington, pointing specifically to the economic-stimulus plan passed earlier this year. “Other policies are yet be undertaken or accomplished.”
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