NYT: One Hundred {crises, not days}

[babylonsister]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/29/opinion/29wed1.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=todayspaper

One Hundred

Published: April 28, 2009


Crises, not days, is the first word that comes to mind when we think about the number 100 and Barack Obama’s presidency.

The list of failed policies and urgent threats bequeathed to him by former President George W. Bush could easily be that long. In his first 14 weeks plus two days, President Obama has made a strong start at addressing many of the most critical ones.

He is trying to rebuild this country’s shattered reputation with his pledge to shut down the prison camp in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, his offer to talk with Iran and Syria, and, yes, that handshake with Venezuela’s blow-hard president, Hugo Chávez.

Mr. Obama has not allowed a once-in-four-generations recession — or politically driven charges that he is over-reaching — to rob him of his ambition. He is right that there can be no lasting recovery until the country reforms its health care system and tackles the clear and present danger of global climate change.

snip//

These are very tough times, but Mr. Obama seems to have lifted the spirits of a divided and fearful nation. In the latest New York Times/CBS News poll, 72 percent of Americans said they were optimistic about the next four years. They also recognized that some problems may be too difficult to solve even in four years.

snip//

During the campaign, then-Senator Obama declared that “government cannot solve all our problems, but what it should do is that which we cannot do for ourselves.” In his first 100 days, President Obama has started to show Americans just what he meant.

[FSogol]

1. Kick. Well said. n/t

[Glorfindel]

2. Inherited crises, to be sure...the NYT is exactly right in this matter

Not since the 1930's has any president been faced with so many disasters not of his making. I believe that President Obama will be equal to the challenge and will stand with Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt as a president who rescued the nation from collapse.