We all remember where we were when the results were announced. We remember the cheers, the tears, the elation tinged with more than a little disbelief that Barack Hussein Obama would soon become America’s 44th president—and that in the end, it wasn’t even close. At 11:15 EST on November 4, 2008, when Senator John McCain began his concession speech, flanked by his wife, Cindy, and Governor Sarah Palin, Obama’s victory was sealed, and from Chicago to Kenya, the better part of planet earth rejoiced.
But Obama and his team were well aware how quickly such great expectations can change to disappointment, especially when a leader takes office in the midst of two unpopular wars and the worst financial crisis in a generation. Even during the campaign, Obama did his best to tamp down any undue euphoria. “The first 100 days is going to be important,” he said during an October radio interview in Colorado, “But it’s probably going to be more like the first 1,000 days that makes a difference.” He must have known that he was echoing a line from President John F. Kennedy’s 1961 inaugural address: “All this will not be finished in the first 100 days. Nor will it be finished in the first 1,000 days, nor in the life of this administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.”
What Obama has begun has to do with economic and foreign policy, with health care and energy and technology and education, but also with the world’s view of America and with America’s view of ourselves. The whole “First 100 Days” concept dates back to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who took office in the midst of the Great Depression and wasted no time getting busy. Obama is an admirer of FDR, but his administration would rather avoid direct comparisons. Still, recognizing the media’s obsession with this milestone, team Obama has scheduled a prime-time news conference for tonight and released its own First 100 Days progress report, which you can find here.
It seems like every Web site and news channel has been saturated all week with appraisals of how Obama’s doing—Reuters tallied up his first 100 days by the numbers: six pieces of legislation signed, 12 U.S. states, and nine foreign countries visited, 44 foreign leaders met face to face, 12 heads of state hosted at the White House, 14 cabinet members seated, three cabinet nominees withdrawn—but such reports are bound to be incomplete at best. The stock market may rise or fall, military operations may succeed or fail, opinion polls may tilt this way or that, but one thing is certain: America has been changed forever by our first 100 days of Obama Time, and there’s no turning back the clock. That’s why VIBE endorsed him way back in 2007. Let’s review a few highlights:
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