ISSUE: President Obama’s first 100 days

OUR VIEW: Too early to pass judgment on president, policies

Barack Obama reaches the first 100 days of his presidency on Wednesday. The day will not be unlike others for the new president, but it is a time of scrutiny and assessment of how the administration is doing. The first 100 days have been a measuring stick largely since the administration of Franklin Roosevelt, but they should not be overly analyzed as a barometer of where the president is going in the coming months and years.

Few will disagree that Obama’s first 100 days have been traumatic.

Obama has faced a major crisis with banking, Wall Street, automakers and an economy in recession. Relief dollars and a federal stimulus package designed to jump start the economy have been answers, with the president using Democratic control of Congress to pretty much have his way with implementing programs and plans.

That has led critics, largely Republicans, to say Obama is backing away from his campaign promise of bipartisanship. With no Republicans voting for the stimulus package, their battle cry has been “socialism.” Obama is presiding over a gigantic growth in government.

U.S. House Majority Whip James Clyburn of South Carolina’s 6th District says don’t read too much into bipartisanship arguments -- at least not at this point.

He told The Washington Times: “I don’t care what (the president) did, they aren’t going to vote for it, it’s not in the cards. So I don’t understand people talking about why can’t you get bipartisanship. If you can get the Congressional Black Caucus and the Blue Dogs, the Hispanic Caucus, you can’t be more bipartisan than that.”

Times can change. These are controversial days. There remains time to achieve a closer cooperation among Washington politicians -- that new day Obama promised.

Republicans know voters in November decided upon a new direction. They have serious doubts about Obama and some of his policies on both the domestic and foreign fronts. So do we.

But Americans continue in overall support of the president.

An Associated Press-GfK poll released this past Thursday shows 48 percent of the American people believe the country is on the right track. The number is up 8 points since February -- and up 31 points since October 2008 before Obama was elected.

The reason for supporting Obama has a lot to with the hope that he pledged to make a part of American life. And necessity. Obama’s success is important to the country -- all of it.

The first 100 days are too few to judge. As Obama himself has said: “The first hundred days is going to be important, but it’s probably going to be the first thousand days that makes the difference.”

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