Thoughts on The First 100 Days...

The first 100 days of any presidency is a comparatively arbitrary measurement of progress. You can try and compare one administration's first 100 days against another, and there is certainly criteria for basic success, but Presidential history is not a good constant against which to measure itself. Would Obama's first 100 days have been more successful if Mr. Specter had switched parties three months ago? Maybe. Would Obama have the political capital he has now if the economy wasn't in the shitter? Maybe. It's not what Obama has accomplished so much as the way Obama has tried to accomplish things that give us insight into what the next four years hold.

Three things can be said about Obama and his first 100 days.

1) He's not embarrassing the country at home or abroad. Even though the G20 isn't going along with his plans for worldwide stimulus, it's clear they like him and perhaps even respect him.

2) There's a firm belief that our President isn't prone to doing colossally stupid things. In other words, unlike his predecessor, we don't have to worry about our President getting a signal from God to bomb random countries. Or say, completely ignore a drowning city.

3) Obama is trying to build a broad coalition. While the GOP is quite literally shrinking to the point of temporary irrelevance, Obama has made a number of good faith efforts to reach out to his "loyal opposition." This may infuriate those on the left, like myself, who want the president to make few concessions and plow ahead with a progressive agenda, but in the end the Democratic party will be strengthened the more people it represents. The real trick will be making sure the Democratic party effectively serves all its constituencies.

A good public image, not making reckless choices, and trying to be bi-partisan, these have lead to historically high public opinion ratings. One could see these three accomplishments as baseline for a competent presidency. And one could make the argument that Obama is suffering from the "bigotry of lowered expectations." But this has nothing to do with Obama, and everything to do with Bush. The first 100 days has shown us we can breathe easier again (not easy, easier), and after eight years of holding my breath that's change I can believe in.

Now if only he would nationalize the banks....