On Obama's Record

According to Stephen Walt, Obama's record looks terrible, but is not really as bad as it looks.

Obama's record does look terrible. For many Americans, words like "Iraq," "Iran," "Afghanistan," "Palestine," and "recession" are negatively associated with Obama's policies. These words carry much weight to Americans: the memories of those who died in 9/11, the lives of the Americans fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, job loss, increasing income and wealth gaps between the poor and the wealthy, poverty, etc. America's failures abroad and it's economic troubles at home deeply unsettle it's citizens. And unfortunately for Obama, the President is usually the one who takes the most flak or praise (deserved or undeserved) for the current state of America, and especially its economic condition. As it is, Obama is taking a lot of blame for our situation.

Have Americans forgotten Bush? The one who previously took the brunt of the anger over our wars abroad? I doubt it. So then, why are Obama's ratings going down as much as they are? Well, first of all, it's as I said previously; America isn't doing well, and Obama is the President. He will take blame simply because he is the one who is perceived to be in charge.

However, perhaps more disconcerting to Americans is the lack of "change we can believe in." Change and hope are powerful messages, especially in tough times; this message was amplified by repetition by Obama and the Democratic Party. But, if after all the rhetoric, there has not been "change we can believe in," perhaps Americans are rightfully offended by Obama's record. A small stimulus package was passed along with a scaled-down version of health care reform: too much change for some, not enough change for others. The war in Afghanistan was escalated: change we can believe in? We're currently pulling out of Iraq tentatively following a schedule set by Bush in 2008. And there is much controversy over when/if/how we should pull out. And although Obama wishes for "two-states for two peoples" and peace between the Israelis and Palestinians, Israel continues building settlements in areas that Palestine desires, fueling tensions between the two nations.

Walt does a nice job of covering what Obama does well that he doesn't get much credit for, because rather than causing something good to happen, he potentially prevented something bad from happening. Our economy perhaps didn't fall as badly as it could have. And yes, we technically came out of the recession in 2009 based on the GDP. However, to say that Obama's record may be better than it looks may be a stretch; should Obama be praised for his small moves, whether you believe they were good moves, bad moves, or maintained the equilibrium, when he promised "change we can believe in?"