Tune into most media outlets and you hear nothing but questions. Yet polls continue to show that he is popular and a majority agree with his decisions.

I think he understands very well how he has to pick his battles in order to generate political capital for the next battle, something that often progressives seem to criticize him for.

Yet at the same time, he is laying out a vision that will enable progressives to win in the future.

In many ways, it is very GOP-like. Lay out your vision, choose which battles to fight, and work to shift the goal posts.

Ignoring specific accomplishments, I have to say it's a welcome change to have a progressive in the Whitehouse who knows how to do this and to me this seems like his biggest accomplishment.

In my heart I hope for more, but what's encouraging is that Obama might be able to get us there. The things that he has accomplished have won him support and this, in turn, may allow him to move further.

From a process and leadership standpoint, he is starting to seem Reagan-esque.

- David

I found the “looking forward rather than looking backward” option to be very reminiscent, as well...though, President Obama was not the first in his administration to promote that route and acknowledge that the decisions to launch investigations into the actions of the Bush administration rightly rest with the Justice Department and Congress...care to guess who I’m talking about?

And, I would suspect that, like Ford’s pardon of Nixon, the way in which Obama is handling Bush administration accountability will be viewed by historians as similarly appropriate and necessary. That is not to say, however, that I think real and effective accountability will not come knocking on the doors of some very prominent Bush administration officials, in due course.

I’m sensing a distinct feeling of delayed deja vu with this installment of the first 100 days, insofar as there is an uncanny similarity in the “daunting array of crises” that faced the new President on day one, so to speak...war, of one sort or another; economic malaise; and energy predicaments...kind of makes one wonder if, over the course of the last few decades, we haven’t been taking one step forward and ten steps backward...ahem...and, I’m beginning to hope that I’m no longer around when the revised, historical take on the meaning of the GW Bush administration takes new shape.

I didn't make myself clear....I was wondering if you had the necessary academic credentials to be a PoliSci prof. If not, I think you should look into it...I think you'd make a great professor.

And thanks for making me feel older than I already do :-)

If you're looking for some sort of connection, I am afraid I'm going to have to disappoint you. I was in elementary school in the early 1970s.

This piece (and tomorrow's ...Same bat time! ...Same bat channel!) was written because while I had seen a lot of articles pick and choose from other presidents' "first 100 days" (most focus on FDR or JFK), I wanted to get some sort of recent perspective on it. Since I was looking into it myself out of curiousity, I thought I'd share my notes in case anyone else was interested.

Oh, and to everyone: Sorry for the lack of links, got these articles through a subscription service.

-CW

...Stan

What is your educational background? This piece reminded me of a Political Science professor
I had in the early 1970's.