7 promises broken – 1.4%
- End income tax for seniors making less than $50,000
- Allow five days of public comment before signing bills
- Tougher rules against revolving door for lobbyists and former officials
- Create a $3,000 tax credit for companies that add jobs
- Allow penalty-free hardship withdrawals from retirement accounts in 2008 and 2009
- Recognize the Armenian genocide
- Negotiate health care reform in public sessions televised on C-SPAN
- Create a foreclosure prevention fund for homeowners
- Establish a credit card bill of rights
- Expand loan programs for small businesses
- Extend and index the 2007 Alternative Minimum Tax patch
- Expand eligibility for State Children's Health Insurance Fund (SCHIP)
- Expand funding to train primary care providers and public health practitioners
- Increase funding to expand community based prevention programs
- Sign the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Appoint a special adviser to the president on violence against women
- Direct military leaders to end war in Iraq
- Send two additional brigades to Afghanistanc
- Give a speech at a major Islamic forum in the first 100 days of his administrationc
- Grant Americans unrestricted rights to visit family and send money to Cuba
- Restore funding for the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (Byrne/JAG) program
- Establish an Energy Partnership for the Americas
- Release presidential records
- Require new hires to sign a form affirming their hiring was not due to political affiliation or contributions.
- Remove more brush, small trees and vegetation that fuel wildfires
- Push for enactment of Matthew Shepard Act, which expands hate crime law to include sexual orientation and other factors
- Create a White House Office on Urban Policy
- Support increased funding for the NEA
- Add another Space Shuttle flight
- Use the private sector to improve spaceflight
- Partner to enhance the potential of the International Space Station
- Use the International Space Station for fundamental biological and physical research
- Explore whether International Space Station can operate after 2016
- Enhance earth mapping
- Appoint an assistant to the president for science and technology policy
- Establish special crime programs for the New Orleans area
- Rebuild schools in New Orleans
- Fund a major expansion of AmeriCorps
- Appoint the nation's first Chief Technology Officer
- Work to overturn Ledbetter vs. Goodyear
- Appoint an American Indian policy adviser
- Ban lobbyist gifts to executive employees
- Create new criminal penalties for mortgage fraud
- Weatherize 1 million homes per year
- Invest in all types of alternative energy
- Enact tax credit for consumers for plug-in hybrid cars
- Support high-speed rail
- Invest in public transportation
- Provide grants to encourage energy-efficient building codes
- Get his daughters a puppy
- Appoint at least one Republican to the cabinet
- Raise the small business investment expensing limit to $250,000 through the end of 2009
- Extend unemployment insurance benefits and temporarily suspend taxes on these benefits
- Reverse restrictions on stem cell research
12 promises stalled – 2.3%
122 promises in the works – 23.7%
315 promises no action to date – 61.2%
6 comments:
Very interesting, Joe.
We mostly hear only about what President Obama hasn't done but very little about what he has accomplished.
I think he has done a lot in 9 months. When I get impatient about what he hasn't done it is good for me to take a look at what has been done and reflect on the difficulty of the process required to make these changes. As much as some think he is a dictator (every president is accused of that by his opponents), he cannot deliver all of his promises by his signature alone.
I think most people in America greatly overestimate the power of the President. You're right, he cannot deliver on his promises with his signature alone.
I think by the time the term is over, Obama will have delivered on a significant portion of his promises. He's taking on one of the toughest early (health care) and Afghanistan and the economy have been demanding a lot of time and attention. No one gives Obama credit for avoiding a total economic meltdown which was a real possibility late last year and earlier this year. He had to spend a lot of time dealing with the economic crisis.
The economic meltdown was a big issue and I think he handled it well based on the outcome. I think the banks are back on track but still needing more regulation. The stock markets are doing very well and their is confidence in the dollar and Obama. I wish there were more employment opportunities and fewer foreclosures but it does take time to put the apples back into the cart after the cart has been uprighted.
We're about where we should expect to be on the economic recovery. The economists told us jobs would lag and they are. Companies are skittish about hiring after such a steep decline and will only hire when they absolutely need to. No one gets credit for a crisis averted though. That's just the way it is. But, the reality is Obama and his team have accomplished quite a bit in the first 9 months considering the messes we were in when they took over.
Good stuff!
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