1st Post, 100th Day

So this is my first post on my blog on politics and media. That's all I can say about this blog for now. It may take a sharper focus once I get going. Since I am a American expat living in Canada, most likely it'll be a mix of U.S. and Canadian political commentary.

As a journalism school graduate, I'll do the media lemming thing and talk about President Barack Obama's 100th day in office. If you ask me, the whole "First 100 Days" is a sham. Really a complete media creation. The 100 day benchmark was first referred to in 1933 by President Franklin Roosevelt, in reference to how quickly he wanted the government to get things done facing The Great Depression.

Today, every major media outlet is talking about the First 100 Days and has been since January 20th. For the twenty-four hour cable news machine, it was a perfect horde of filler to talk about from then until now. In recent weeks, coverage has gotten more absurd, for example entire issues being reduced to grades by CNN.

That being said, it is tempting to be simplistic, and I give Obama a solid B for his first 100 days in the Oval Office. Obama acted swiftly to save the banks and the American economy by getting TARP through Congress. However I think Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is a little weaselly, but that's a post for another day. That being said, fixing an economy would be a little bit easier with marginal help, concessions, and/or support from Congressional Republicans, which Obama has not had the luxury of thus far.

Closing Guantanamo and his performance on the world stage are where Obama has been the strongest. Signing that Executive Order and having the balls to put those detainees in the care of A.G. Holder showed that Obama would be a dramatic change from the previous administration. More recently, the release of the torture memos and the characterization of waterboarding as torture (yet another post for another time, I'm sure) has shown that while Obama states he wants to "look forward", he won't the past be completely obscured.

Something that bothered me about the Obama Administration so far is the changing of the dialogue in the War on Terror. The Department of Homeland Security's memo's concerning "Overseas Contingency Operations" made me want to vomit. Also, the number of unfilled positions in the government and number of Cabinet appointees who have had to withdraw is disappointing. Again though, solid job so far-- B.

That's all for me, it is late, and the quill is dry.