Barack Obamas First Two Years as President Essay Example

Barack Obamas First Two Years as President Essay Example Barack Obamas First Two Years as President Essay Barack Obamas First Two Years as President Essay There is an innumerable amount of ways someone can measure Obama’s first two years in office to try to define whether his presidency has been a success or failure. Issues relating the economy, domestic policy, and national security and foreign policy are the major topics in which many of those controversial issues lie. The easiest ways to determine whether or not Obama has been successful, is to look at his accomplishments as President, look at the principle promises he made regarding those issues prior to and during his time in office, and lastly the public’s overall rating of his presidency. After looking at all of those factors, I have determined that Obama has failed as President after the first two years being in office. The first aspects of Obama’s presidency that will be assessed are the principle promises he made, to the public, prior to/or after being sworn into office. There are, roughly, around 5 main topics that Obama addressed and said he was going to take a certain action on. The first of them was the Economic Stimulus Bill, where Obama said, â€Å"if we did not pass his Economic Stimulus bill, unemployment would rise over 8 percent. That unemployment statistic is currently 9. 6 percent. But the actual unemployment rate (including people who have given up on finding jobs) is 16 percent = double the tragedy that Obama threatened us with†(Americanbuilt. us, 2010). Obama stated that the unemployment rate would go up if the Economic Stimulus bill did not pass, however, the unemployment rate increased dramatically after the bill took effect and, thus, totally contradicting the President and his word. The stimulus bill was supposed to be a â€Å"bill meant to pump money into the economy via tax cuts and a wide range of spending plans to make up for the sudden, sharp contraction of spending by consumers and businesses†(NYTimes, 2010). Many economists believe that the bill actually helped out the economy, however it became one of the main issues that Republicans attacked due to the rising national debt and increased unemployment rate. It is understandable that the President had no idea of the exact outcome, but he should not be making assumptions just because he wants something passed in his favor, when he is not positive about the end result. Another promise he made to the American people was that he was going to end the wars and bring our troops home. Obama, â€Å"ordered drones to bomb Pakistan (killing 22 people) during his first week in office. He’s leaving 50,000 troops in Iraq, preparing to launch a surge of 30,000 troops in Afghanistan and just authorized 21,000 additional troops in Afghanistan. Obama just requested $83,400,000,000 for Iraq, Afghanistan, and foreign aid†¦ The maximum number of US forces expected in Afghanistan by year’s end 68,000 will remain the same†(Americanbuilt. us, 2010). It is hard for Obama to promise something when he has no knowledge of the full situation going on. Former President George Bush ordered our troops into Iraq and Afghanistan for a purpose, and that includes more knowledge than anyone else could possibly know. Obama came into office with the promise he made and now, he has not only broken that promise to the American people, but he is also elevating the amount of foreign aid and debt immensely. Promises should not be made without total knowing, and they have to be reasonable. Coming into office and automatically taking out military troops that have been there in an on going war is not reasonable whatsoever. One of the next promises Obama made was to end illegal wiretapping of Americans. President Bush approved a law called the USA P. A. T. R. I. O. T Act (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001) that is intended to discourage and punish terrorist activity in the United States and elsewhere, and also to enhance law enforcement investigatory tools. Instead of putting an end to the bill, Obama â€Å"signed a one-year extension of three provisions of the Patriot Act. The provisions are section 206 of the P. A. T. R. I. O. T. Act, governing roving wiretaps; section 215, which addresses the collection of business records; and the so-called ‘lone wolf surveillance’ law† (Americanbuilt. us, 2010). Instead of doing as he promised, Obama contradicted his word to the public, yet again, and extended the act for another full year. There continues to be a pattern of Obama going against his word, and that could be due to lack of knowledge and intelligence before being sworn into office. Back when George W. Bush was in office, he â€Å"issued 161 signing statements affecting over 1,100 provisions of law in 160 Congressional enactments. When Obama was campaigning for votes, he was asked directly that if Congress offers him a bill, do he promise to not use presidential signage to get your way, and Obama responded with ‘Yes, I taught the Constitution for 10 years. I believe in the Constitution and I will obey the Constitution of The United States. Were not going to use signing statements as a way of doing an end-run around Congress (Americanbuilt. us, 2010). If Obama made that it clear that he was not going to use signing statements, then why on March 11, 2009 did he issue his first signing statement? It was because he did not agree with parts of the omnibus-spending bill passed by Congress, and wanted to outline his disagreements. In each case it seems more and more as if he was judging Bush and his actions hugely, but now that Obama realizes how everything works and what’s really going on, he’s portrayed himself to be somewhat of a hypocrite. Another major promise that Obama made was the closing of Guantanamo Bay. They have started closing Guantanamo Bay partially, â€Å"but sending more prisoners to Bagram Prison in Afghanistan, either directly, or via other countries†(Americanbuilt. us, 2010). Getting those prisoners tried in U. S. courts should be a major priority so that the prisoners are either convicted or released. We cannot expect other people to think of us highly when we are not providing counsel for the detainees and holding them for years and years before they are convicted. However, To the disappointment of civil liberty groups, â€Å"Obama decided to continue a number of Bush administration policies, including the use of military tribunals for some defendants and the indefinite imprisonment of others†(NYTimes, 2010). Yet again, President Obama fails to follow through with what he had promised the citizens of the United States. After looking at those factors and topics, a debate takes place between Dylan Loewe (democrat) and James Antle (republican) assessing President Obama’s presidency after the first year. The two men go back and forth explain their views on the actions Obama has taken on certain issues and whether or not it has benefited our country. Dylan Loewe states, â€Å"if we remind ourselves of the state of the country when he took office, and the distance we have come since that moment, in terms of policy achievements alone, its almost impossible to argue that Obamas first year wasnt an extraordinary success† (guardian. o. uk, 2010). Some people may in fact argue that Obama saved the economy from a huge destruction. But there are always two sides to the argument. At the end of the debate, Antle makes a good point by saying â€Å"in terms of the general direction of the country, the initial judgment of the American people seems correct:  Barack Obama  has promised more hope and change than he has thus far delivered. In many respects, Obama has simply taken the mistakes and failures of George Bush and magnified them by hundreds of billions of dollars†(guardian. co. uk, 2010). Normally people learn from the mistakes other people make and try to make things better, however, President Obama simply continued with the same mistakes Bush made and ultimately threw away billions of dollars. That could have been avoided if careful thought was put into the actions before they were carried out. Antle finished by saying â€Å"If Obama gets everything on his wish list, he will in some sense be a success. But judging from the perspective of a national interest best served by a government that lives within its means at home and abroad, he will also be a failure†(guardian. co. uk, 2010). There still is hope for Obama to slightly turn around his presidency, but he will have to make some serious changes and actually listen to the American people, otherwise, Obama is in for a big surprise come 2012. Aside from his broken promises and the negatives, there are a couple major accomplishments that President Obama has achieved during his presidency. In November of 2008, â€Å"Barack Hussein Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States sweeping away the last racial barrier in American politics with ease as the country chose him as its first black chief executive† (Nagourney, 2008). This was a huge step for America, considering that many major groups are racist and discriminate towards blacks, and also considering the past history the United States had with unequal rights. America has hugely evolved and a few years ago, a black president would have been unthinkable and impossible. Another accomplishment that Obama achieved was being awarded a Noble Peace Prize from Norway. The committee â€Å"stressed that it made its choice based on Mr. Obama’s actual efforts toward nuclear disarmament as well as American engagement with the world relying more on iplomacy and dialogue. Republicans and some others ridiculed the award, saying the president had not done anything to deserve it; others called it an inappropriate honor in light of Mr. Obama’s decision to move slowly in removing troops from Iraq and to increase them in Afghanistan†(NYTimes, 2010). The committee mainly went off of what Obama said he was going to do not what he actually accomplished . That decision may have been unfair and not well thought out, however, but that is still a huge honor for President Obama to be awarded that prize. One of the last ways to determine whether or not the President has successfully carried out his duties would be looking at the people’s approval rating of his time in office. According to Rasmussen Reports, â€Å"the daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday November 14, 2010 shows that 28% of the nations voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-one percent (41%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -13†(2010). Compared to January of 2009, Obama had a 65% approval rating of the people and only 30% disapprove. This extreme shift in ratings says something about the presidency and that the people are not happy with how he is handling things. So, he needs to do something drastically different, or else he is going to be in trouble come re-election time. All of these factors listed and described above, add to the end conclusion in determining if the President is successful or not with carrying out certain issues, or if it is just simply keeping his word. It seems however, that Obama keeps adding to his list of broken promises and continues ruining the â€Å"hopes† he helped create in the lives of American people. The public voted for him based on his promises, and he has not fulfilled his word. They intend for him to keep and fulfill the promises he made, otherwise there will be a very unhappy group of people and could possibly cost Obama his re-election in 2012. I believe that President Obama has not fulfilled his proper duties in the White House and has ultimately lead to his first two years as president being a disaster. He still has time to turn around the trend in his disapproval rating, but it wont be an easy thing to overcome. Barack Obama’s First Year: Success or Failure? guardian. co. uk, 19 Jan. 2010. Web. 15 Nov. 2010. lt; guardian. co. uk/? commentisfree/? cifamerica/? 2010/? jan/? 19/? barack-obama-first-yeargt;. Daily Presidential Tracking Poll. Rasmussen Reports, 15 Nov. 2010. Web. 15 Nov. 2010. lt; rasmussenreports. com/? public_content/? politics/? obama_administration/? daily_presidential_tracking_pollgt;. Nagourney, Adam. Obama Elected President as Racial Barrier Falls. New York Times, 4 Nov. 2008. Web. 15 Nov. 2010. lt; nytimes. com/? 2008/? 11/? 05/? us/? politics/? 05elect. html? _r=1amp;ref=barack_obamagt;. Presidency of Barack Obama. New York Times, 1 Sept. 2010. Web. 15 Nov. 2010. lt; nytimes. com/? info/? presidency-of-barack-obama/? gt;. Weblog post. Barack Hussein Obama II. AmericanBuilt. us, n. d. Web. 15 Nov. 2010. lt;http://americanbuilt. us/? videos/? barack-hussein-obama. shtmlgt;.