newjerseynewsroom.com

BY MICHAEL MORRIS

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

COMMENTARY

President Obama will be celebrating his first full year in office next week and despite what the right wing pundits, Tea-baggers and the "Republicants" in Congress want you to believe as common wisdom, the Obama administration has not been an embarrassing mistake and a failure thus far. To the contrary, President Obama's first year in office has been a major success.

To gage that success just look at some of the legislation that was passed during his first year:

• $787 billion stimulus package — Which by many accounts believe that Obama's decisive action in February prevented a much deeper downturn or another depression and restored economic growth in the third quarter. Even the right wing conservative American Enterprise Institute,has said that the stimulus package worked.
• Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay act — Equal pay for equal work.
• In March the ban on Embryonic Stem Cell research was lifted after 8 years.
• The House passed climate change legislation in June to fulfill one of Obama's campaign pledges to help control global warming. (The Senate will debate and move on this later in the year)
• The confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor in August as the first Hispanic and only the third woman appointed to the high court.
• After 60 years of trying by Democrats to pass legislation, the soon to be completed health care reform act should be signed into law by the President sometime next month just before he gives his State of the Union Address.

All of these major accomplishments achieved or soon to be achieved by President Obama were during his first year, NOT term in office, which will make Obama the most successful first year president since Franklin D. Roosevelt. And by any standard, if Obama's presidency were to end after this year, he would go down as the greatest domestic president this country has known.

During his first year in office, Obama's foreign policy accomplishments, while not as significant as his domestic policy does merit attention and praise thus far.

Jacob Weisberg of Slate.com states it this way:

"He has put America on a new footing with the rest of the world. In a series of foreign trips and speeches, which critics deride as trips and speeches, he replaced George W. Bush's unilateral, moralistic militarism with an approach that is multilateral, pragmatic, and conciliatory. Obama has already significantly reoriented policy toward Iran, China, Russia, Iraq, Israel, and the Islamic world."... "No, the results do not yet merit his Nobel Peace Prize. But not since Reagan has a new president so swiftly and determinedly remodeled America's global role."

With so much accomplished during his first year in office what has he left to do? Conventional wisdom states that not much happens during a congressional campaign year but that ignores the fact that life goes on and there is still work to be done.

As the economy starts to improve there is talk about a much needed "jobs bill" that will help put people back to work and lower the unemployment figures. It will be seen as a positive for the President and Congressional Democrats heading into the November elections.

This spring, massive troop reduction from Iraq will begin with 12,500 troops coming home in May, followed by 12,500 more troops each month until all combat and support troops are withdrawn by the end of next year. Thousands of smiling happy faces greeting loved ones as they return from deployment in Iraq will be a big boost to Obama.

Immigration reform will be the next big "hot button" issue that may be addressed in Obama's second year. Latinos are becoming one of the biggest and most important constituencies in the Democratic Party and their biggest goal is comprehensive immigration reform. They aren't in the mood for "we'll take a look at it next year".

Republican demagoguery on the issue along with race baiting by Tea-baggers will cause trouble for Obama but ultimately will cause moderate and independent voters in suburban areas to support the legislation.

As 2010 starts to shape up it is looking like a pretty good year so far for President Obama and for his legislative agenda. There is always potential for the unforeseen to happen in 2010 that could derail his goals for the new year, but otherwise the potential to exceed 2009's accomplishments is clearly within reach.

So good luck with that common wisdom.

Michael Morris is involved with the Democratic Party in New Jersey. He is the author of MiddletownMike.blogspot.com.