Obama's 1st Year's Grade

It's now the end of 2009 and almost 1 year has passed since President Obama assumed the office of the presidency. It's been a year of turmoil, both financially and politically, unlike anything I have seen since I have been alive. It is also the first time in 8 years that I did not have to suffer the embarrassment of having an incompetent as president of the US, and our country being the laughingstock of the world.

The things that I would downgrade him for, was his renewal of the Patriot Act, his renewal of FISA, his decision to send additional troops into Afghanistan, and his refusal to prosecute the criminals of the previous administration who approved torture and all manner of other violations of International and US law.

For these I would give him a grade of C.....

On the other hand, there were many notable things that he did achieve, the most recent was being awarded the most prestigious award in the world - the Nobel Peace Prize. Earlier in the year he also nominated and secured the appointment of the 1st Latina Supreme Court Justice, he fulfilled his campaign pledge to begin the daunting process of reforming healthcare in America, and he achieved a host of other legislative actions that had been neglected or denied by the previous administration. He has had many critics, both on the Right and on the Left, but at least one source correctly saw that his was one of the best 1st years in office that any previous president has had..

....from The BradBlog - http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7595

• Continued the draw down the misbegotten war in Iraq
  (But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

• Thoughtfully and decisively picked the best of several bad choices regarding the war in Afghanistan
  (But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

• Gave a major precedent-setting speech supporting gay rights
  (But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

• Restored America's image around the globe
  (But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

• Banned torture of American prisoners
  (But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

• Stopped the free fall of the American economy
  (But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

• Put the USA squarely back in the bilateral international community
  (But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

• Put the USA squarely into the middle of the international effort to halt global warming
  (But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

• Stood up for educational reform
  (But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

• Won a Nobel peace prize
  (But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

• Moved the trial of terrorists back into the American judicial system of checks and balances
  (But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

• Did what had to be done to start the slow, torturous and almost impossible process of health care reform that 7 presidents had failed to even begin
  (But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

• Responded to hatred from the Right and Left with measured good humor and patience
  (But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

• Stopped the free fall of job losses
  (But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

• Showed immense personal courage in the face of an armed and dangerous far Right opposition that included the sort of disgusting people that show up at public meetings carrying loaded weapons and carrying Timothy McVeigh-inspired signs about the "blood of tyrants" needing to "water the tree of liberty"...
  (But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

• Showed that he could not only make the tough military choices but explain and defend them brilliantly
  (But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

For all these first-term achievements, I would give him a grade of A....

IMHO, His overall grade for his first year is a B to a B+, and I fully expect it to rise to a grade of A by the end of his 4-yr. term in office.