The Second Hundred Days

It's time to Break It Down!

Perhaps in the future, when chroniclers report the events of the Second Hundred Days of the Obama era, they will note the disproportionate impact news related to Michael Jackson’s death had on tamping down the hype for the Obama Administration. By comparison, coverage surrounding the First Hundred Days was Off the Chain. Still in fairness to all things Michael, it is impossible to escape the recognition that President Obama’s Second Hundred Days, concluding tomorrow, was full of sound and fury, signifying…mostly frustration.

In short, candidate Obama was able to design, package, articulate, and market successfully, messages of Change and Hope that so far, President Obama has been unable to capture, refine, galvanize Congress around, alleviate voter’s concerns about, and effectively translate into public policy or successful legislation, even though he claims sizeable majorities in both Houses of Congress.

If the First Hundred Days were exciting, but overhyped, the Second Hundred Days have been mired in the reality of the kind of Washington-style politics, Barack the candidate identified as the crux of many, if not most of the nation’s problems. Moreover, he promised to end the partisanship and pay-to-play lobbying relationships that make getting things done on Capitol Hill a proverbial and perpetual obstacle course. Neither has happened as yet.

Of course, it is early, and therefore unfair to pass summary judgment. But for anyone inclined to draw conclusions based on the results of the First Two Hundred Days, and I imagine many will do so, Change looks eerily familiar, and Hope has been dashed, or at least severely deflated.

So what are signs that would have heralded hallmark Change had it occurred? Well several key items reside near the top of the list, including:

• Health Care Reform
• Revitalized Environmental Policy
• Restructured National Security Programs
• Elimination of the Partisan Divide
• Abolishment of Pay-to-Play Lobbying

Naturally, others would pose a different list. However, if these are the sign posts of progress, the corridors leading to Change are stalled, and in some cases, it appears traffic may be in reverse, when moving at all.

While Camp Obama has been the beneficiary of recent good news; slowing of the increase in joblessness, a slight rebound in home sales, unexpected success by the Cash for Clunkers gambit, and Bill Clinton’s negotiation of the release of two American journalists by the North Korean Government yesterday, several factors continue to mute any wide spread sense of celebration. They include:

• A fractured majority party – Even though the Democrats
control the House and the Senate, the schism between liberals
and so-called Blue
Dogs has made it virtually impossible for the President to wield
the kind of influence he and his staunchest supporters hoped for.
• Partisan polarization – As a candidate, Obama decried the
usual partisan sniping between Democrats and Republicans, conservatives and
liberals, the grassroots and big business, etc. President Obama
has found managing the contentiousness, and more important, brokering
agreement, achieving consensus, and reaching successful accords to be
consistently beyond his reach.
• Resistance to government reform – While on the campaign trail,
Mr. Obama relentlessly criticized the influence of lobbyists and
money on the legislative process. He has since downgraded his opposition,
which quite naturally has resulted in more lobbyists’ influence; less
government reform.
• Middle class tax increase looming? – Much of the debate about
finding the revenue to support the many programs promoted by the Obama
Administration revolved around a commitment not to impose new taxes on
the middle class. As a candidate, and then again as President, Mr.
Obama adamantly voiced opposition to any new taxes on the middle
class. Recently however, at least two of the President’s operatives
indicated that the idea of a middle class tax increase may be “on the
table.” Not surprisingly, the rhetoric surrounding that possibility has
ratcheted up, considerably.
• The Sotomayor saga – President Obama’s first nominee to
the Supreme Court, Judge Sonia Sotomayor is expected to
be confirmed soon. Early indications are she will get fewer Republican
votes than Bush nominees Roberts and Alito got Democrats' votes. In the
grand scheme of things, this is another example of the polarization that
reigns inside the Beltway.

Like the Pirate incident near then end of the First Hundred Days, the hostage release yesterday will garner a significant amount of spin in the news...and it should. But similar to the Somalis, the North Koreans were dealing with a small number of American citizens. Their families will be gratified. However, back home, the the juice behind the matter is likely to evaporate as the media frenzy concentrates on Health Care Reform, or the lack thereof, or even Cash for Clunkers, and definitely the prospect of a Middle Class Tax Increase.

One prominent former Bush Administration official, John Bolton, who served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush, condemned sharply the Obama Administration for sending Clinton as an envoy, arguing it is against U.S. policy to negotiate for hostages. Bolton further maintains that it strengthens North Korea's position on important diplomatic issues. The Administration's official stance is that Bill Clinton, who holds no official capacity in the Obama Administration acted as a private citizen on a humanitarian mission...as Jimmy Carter has done several times.

If there is any one matter that warrants consideration as the pivotal game-changer in terms of things the President needs to address and Change before he can have any Hope of salvaging his political ideals, uniting the Democratic Party screams for attention. Call it the uppermost challenge of the Third Hundred Days. Absent this critical shift in intraparty dynamics, major legislative victories, within clear reach, will be impossible to achieve; merely lost opportunities continuing to increase in number.

It would be difficult to argue that many of the seeds of dissent and resistance were not already in the ground prior to November 8, 2008, and certainly before January 21, 2009. Still, at some point, President Obama must take ownership of the here and now. In that light, it is altogether possible the best things about “The Second Hundred Days” is there are still 455 days left before the 2010 Mid-term Elections, and 1,190 days left before Election 2012.

I’m done; holla back!

Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com/. A new post is published each Wednesday. For more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post, consult the links below:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/08/04/zelizer.second.hundred/index.html?iref=24hours

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/08/04/nkorea.clinton/index.html

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/04/dont_blame_credit_obama_for_piratesrescue.php

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/04/AR2009080401486.html