Perspective
by Will
For those of you discouraged by criticisms of Obama’s first year, I point you to this — it was item number one in The Economist‘s “The World This Year” round-up:
Barack Obama was inaugurated as America’s 44th president. In a whirlwind first year in office, Mr. Obama overturned a prohibition on federal funding for stem-cell research, eased some restrictions on dealing with Cuba, lifted a ban on people with HIV traveling to the United States, pushed Congress to pass health-care reform, promised to close the detention camp at Guantanamo, pledged a cut in American’s emissions and promoted the first Hispanic person to the Supreme Court.
I’ll remind you that The Economist is a conservative British magazine, which has a skeptical attitude at best towards America in general and Obama in particular. Still, when tallying what’s important about the year, there’s no doubt of the positive overall change that’s happened. It’s fair game to criticize the president as harshly as you want — it’s part of the job — but step back and see the trends: we’re in a good place, getting better. Full disclosure: disagree with me and I’m probably going to totally ignore you.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Comments
I’m not sure I’d characterize The Economist as particularly skeptical of Obama. After all, the newspaper did endorse him for president.
Begrudgingly, I’d say. What I mean to point out is the item I quoted was uncharacteristically cheery and complimentary — not like their usual arms folded “well, I suppose THIS is all right” tone.