Part 1: Background and Accomplishments
Background:
Near the
end of President Bush’s term In December of 2008, the country’s economy was in
free fall. He was serving out the last days of a presidency weakened by his
failures to close the deal in Iraq and Afghanistan and out of the loop
domestically since all the important economic decisions were being made by
Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
On
January 9th, 2009, 11 days before President Obama’s inauguration, the Wall Street Journal reported that 524,000 jobs had been lost in December.
It is instructive
to remember where the country was:
• 1.9 million jobs were lost in
the last four months of 2008.
• For the entire year 2008, 2.6
million jobs had been lost.
• The financial services sector
was in free fall.
- Two thirds of the auto industry
was bankrupt. The Dow Jones Industrial average
had fallen from the 14,000’s in October 2007 to the 8,000’s in December. By
March, the Dow would be in the 6000’s, lower than at any time since 2000.
• Iraq and Afghanistan were
draining the nation’s resources and its patience.
• Foreclosures were at an all time high and
the wealth of the middle class was declining at a devastating pace.
What are Obama’s
Achievements?
1. Stabilizing
the Economy: Signed the $787 billion Stimulus
Act in 2009 to spur economic growth amid the worst economic conditions since
the Great Depression. Twelve months later, the
private sector began producing more jobs than it was losing, and it has
continued to do so for twenty-three straight months, creating a total of nearly
4.5 million new private-sector jobs, of the 8.7 million jobs lost since
September 2008.
GDP grew from 0.4% in March 2011 to 3.0% in Q4 of that
year. It has fallen to 2.2% in Q1 and 1.7% in Q2 of this year. Given that the
global economy is trending downward and that the historical average for GDP is
3.8%, we are in a fragile, slow growth recovery.
2. Passed Health Care Reform: Signed the Affordable Care Act in 2010 after five
presidents tried and failed to create universal health insurance. It will cover
32 million uninsured Americans beginning in 2014 and mandates a suite of
experimental measures to cut health care cost growth, the number one cause of
America’s long-term fiscal problems.
3. Turned around U.S. Auto Industry: Injected $62 billion in federal money (on top of $13.4
billion in loans from the Bush administration) into ailing GM and Chrysler in
return for equity stakes and agreements for massive restructuring. Since
bottoming out in 2009, the auto industry has added more than 100,000 jobs. In
2011, the Big Three automakers all gained market share for the first time in
two decades. The government expects to lose $16 billion of its investment, less
if the price of the GM stock it still owns increases.
4. Passed Wall Street Reform: Signed
the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (2010) to
re-regulate the financial sector after its practices caused the Great
Recession. The new law tightens capital requirements on large banks and other
financial institutions, requires derivatives to be sold on clearinghouses and
exchanges, mandates that large banks provide “living wills” to avoid chaotic
bankruptcies, limits their ability to trade with customers’ money for their own
profit, and creates the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to crack down on
abusive lending products and companies.
5. Set and kept to timetables for bringing
our troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan;
· Ended the War in Iraq: Ordered all U.S. military forces out of the country.
Last troops left on December 18,
2011.
· Began Draw-down of War in Afghanistan: From a peak of 101,000 troops in June 2011, U.S.
forces are now down to about 68,000. According to Secretary of Defense Leon
Panetta, the combat mission there will end in 2013, although troops may remain
until 2014.
6. Eliminated Osama Bin Laden: Ordered
Special Forces in 2011 to raid the compound in Abbotabad, Pakistan, in which
the terrorist leader was killed and a trove of al-Qaeda documents were
discovered.
7. Began Asia “Pivot”: Announced new
American military and diplomatic priorities in 2011, shifting prime focus from
the Middle East and Europe to the Asian-Pacific region.
8. Increased Support for Veterans: Increased
the 2010 Department of Veterans Affairs budget by 16% and 2011 budget by
10% to help the many soldiers coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan with
serious physical and mental health problems who faced long waits for services.
Also signed new GI bill offering $78 billion in tuition assistance over a
decade, and provided multiple tax credits to encourage businesses to hire
veterans.
9. Protected Two Liberal Seats on the U.S.
Supreme Court: Nominated and obtained confirmation for Sonia Sotomayor,
the first Hispanic and third woman to serve, in 2009; and Elena Kagan, the
fourth woman to serve, in 2010. They replaced David Souter and John Paul
Stevens, respectively.
10.Negotiated
New START Treaty: Signed with Russia (2010) and won ratification in
Congress (2011) of a treaty that limits each country to 1,550 strategic
warheads (down from 2,200) and 700 launchers (down from more than 1,400), and
reestablished and strengthened a monitoring and transparency program that had
lapsed in 2009, through which each country monitors the other.
11.Repealed
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”: Ended 1990s-era restriction and formalized new
policy allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military for the first
time.
12.Brokered
Agreement for Compensation to Victims of Gulf Oil Spill: Used moral
authority of the presidency to convince BP to agree in 2010 to a $20 billion
fund to compensate victims of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of
Mexico; $6.5 billion has been already paid out without lawsuits. By comparison,
it took nearly two decades for plaintiffs in the Exxon Valdez Alaska oil spill
case to receive $1.3 billion.
13.Kicked
Banks Out of Federal Student Loan Program: Signed, as part of the 2010
health care reform bill, a measure ending the wasteful decades-old practice of
subsidizing banks to provide college loans. Starting July 2010 students are getting
their federal student loans directly from the federal government. Treasury will
save $67 billion over ten years, $36 billion of which will go to expanding Pell
Grants to lower-income students.
14.Expanded
Health Coverage for Children: Signed 2009 Children’s Health Insurance
Authorization Act, which allows the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
to cover health care for 4 million more children, paid for by a tax increase on
tobacco products.
Barack Obama has accomplished enough in his first term (stabilizing
the economy, health care reform, turning around Detroit, Bin Laden) to be considered
an effective president.
But most
Americans don’t see him that way and might not even be inclined to give him a
second term.
In the next column, The Wrongologist will analyze the
reasons why Obama is not viewed as an
effective leader.
He will also
make a Presidential recommendation for your consideration.
