With the end of the year, the US papers are filled with punditry pronouncing a range of negative verdicts on Obamas presidency. Some of this was clearly to be expected- it was unlikely that any republican, after the humiliation of 2008 defeat- would rise up to praise Obama. The bigger surprise is the virulence of commentators from the center and left and the almost supine acceptance of these dire- but dare i say completely erroneous verdicts-- by the supporters of Obama. Many of these supporters have withdrawn into a shell and there has been no attempt made to rally them with the truth except for rare attempts by Andrew Sullivan-- who is surprisingly a conservative commentator.
So here goes an effort to redress the balance and to urge a more objective view of what Obama has actually managed to achieve in 11 months of his presidency.
Let us look at the substantive record:
First,the foreign policy issues:
US announced its policy against torture
Gitmo is to be closed as soon as possible
The Cairo speech enunciated a new paradigm in US view of the muslim world that was welcomed around the world
The unitary executive, claiming vast, dictatorial powers over American citizens, has been unwound.
The legal inquiries that may well convict former Bush officials for war crimes are underway, and the trial of KSM will reveal the lawless sadism of the Cheney regime that did so much to sabotage the war on Jihadism.
Military force against al Qaeda in Pakistan has been ratcheted up considerably, even at a civilian cost that remains morally troubling.
There is a clear policy on Afghanistan where the US has given notice that it intends to leave Afghanistan with a big surge, a shift in tactics, and a heavy batch of new troops.
Orders have been issued for withdrawal from Iraq by end of 2010.
Relations with Russia have improved immensely and may yield real gains in non-proliferation;
Netanyahu has moved, however insincerely, toward a two-state solution;
Iran's coup regime remains far more vulnerable than a year ago, paralyzed in its diplomacy, terrified of its own people and constantly shaken by the ongoing revolution;
Pakistan launched a major offensive against al Qaeda and the Taliban in its border area;
global opinion of the US has been transformed
And at least the world finds Obamas approach meriting a Nobel Peace Prize despite domestic carping. the Cairo speech and the Nobel acceptance speech helped explain exactly what Obama's blend of ruthless realism for conflict-management truly means.
Domestically, the achievements have actually been even more impressive:
Obama's team has prevented the collapse of the US and the world economy- a fact that he has not been given enough credit for, in the hoopla of bail outs and bonuses
US economy has shifted from a tailspin to stablilization and some prospect of job growth next year;
the Dow is at 10,500 a level no one would have predicted this time last year when it had plunged to 6000 stunning many a retiree.
Major investments have been made in green technology laying the foundation for the future
The education spending and the ambitious agenda has flown under the radar of the beltway pundits,
The size of Peace Corps has been doubled, Pell grants increased substantially and a major filip given to Volunteerism
A stimulus package has helped undergird infrastructure and will probably do more to advance non-carbon energy than anything that might have emerged from Copenhagen.
Universal health insurance (with promised deficit reduction!) is imminent - a goal sought by Democrats (and Nixon) for decades.
And all this in just 11 months. Have all these tasks been completed? No. But they are a hell lot closer to achievement than many imagined just an year ago.
As Sullivan wisely notes " Change of this magnitude is extremely hard. That it is also frustrating, inadequate, compromised, flawed, and beset with bribes and trade-offs does not, in my mind, undermine it. Obama told us it would be like this - and it is. And those who backed him last year would do better, to my mind, if they appreciated the difficulty of this task and the diligence and civility that Obama has displayed in executing it."
It is time for all to realize the facts of these achievements and not allow the repubublican PR machine and the Fox networks to obscure these achievements. It is time for objective observers to acknowledge and admit that Obama's first year has done more than we thought possible, period.
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