Rate the President's overall job performance in his first 2 years with your own letter grade

[mtnsnake]

A = excellent

B+ = very good

B = good

C+ = fairly good

C = fair

D = poor

F = failure

[bushisanidiot]

1. A+

,

[Skittles]

3. LOL

so there's no room for improvement? :ROFL:


C minus

[jefferson_dem]

17. LOL.

I suspect you would only give yourself an above average grade anyway.

[Skittles]

28. ridiculous

pitiful

[Number23]

48. The very THOUGHT of that makes me lololol

If anyone ever deserved a personal "fail"...

[mtnsnake]

2. C+.......I would have rated him higher but I didn't like the tax deal at all

and I thought HCR ended up being too watered down. I like his reversals of Bush's environmental policies, though, and his intelligence and demeanor have been a breath of fresh air after 8 years of Bush.

[tridim]

4. A+ on a curve.

A- otherwise.

[femmocrat]

5. B+

I marked him down for dropping Public Option and for caving on the bush tax cut. His other accomplishments are meritorious, however!

[27inCali]

53. that's a pretty solid break down

I give him credit for fighting through a literally crazy atmosphere to still be able to pass a lot of Progressive Priorities into law.

Consumer Protection -both financial and health, Student Loan Reform, Green Energy, Modernized Transportation, tax cuts for the working class.

I think where he cut some ugly deals, it was more out of emergency and necessity than any actual desire to do so.

[DrDan]

6. c+

[Tikki]

7. A

Tikki

[DJ13]

8. D+

The needy dont get enough consideration from his administration.

But if you're wealthy he's a solid A.

[yourout]

9. D+ / C-

[applegrove]

10. B+ because he's got a lot of legislation through. Even though HCR was not perfect

it does cover all americans and saves families from bankrupcy and death.

[yourout]

24. The problem is quality is more important than quanity as far as law making goes.

And outside of DADT everything passed is full of holes. When you pass a shitty law many times it ends up biting you in the ass.

[Laelth]

11. D

-Laelth

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

12. A!!!!!! n.t

[nevergiveup]

13. A / C-

A for getting a lot of good stuff done under rotten circumstances and C- for communication skills.

[Brickbat]

14. C-

[AlinPA]

15. B+

[jwirr]

16. B+

[JamesA1102]

18. B

[jefferson_dem]

19. Easy...

A.

On a slight curve given all the other (lame) alternatives.

[lapfog_1]

20. B

[Kaleva]

21. A-

[ZombieHorde]

22. This is really tough for me. On some issues, I think President Obama is great, on other issues,

he pisses me off. I am not sure how to weight my various favorite political issues.

[Skittles]

30. that would be C, or C-

[quiller4]

23. A -- much better than I expected.

[CakeGrrl]

25. A-

There's nothing "average" about the uphill challenges he took on and the accomplishments he's put up in the face of those in the time he's been in office.

There's no name I've seen thrown around that I'd rather see in this job right now.

[Blaze Diem]

26. Clearly an F..for the demeaning moment of silence.

These victims deserve more than a moment.
Its Hate Speech Mr President.
I want to know you REALLY give a shit K?

[Skittles]

29. come on

it is prudent for a president to learn all the facts before speaking....yes, he needs to say more but he needs to know more first

[opihimoimoi]

27. Clearly an A+...given the Grumpy GOPers Obstinance and their NO to everything

he did wonders....

[bushisanidiot]

37. THANK YOU!

he didn't have free reign to accomplish everything on his agenda. people act as if he had a filibuster proof majority on both sides of the house. he DIDN'T!!

[Dawgs]

39. Your excuse would be valid if not for him dropping the PO during reconciliation.

No way can any honest Democrat give this guy an A+.

[Dawgs]

38. Except Obama picked Summers & Geitner.

And dropped the PO with the help of Reid.
And gets more upset at those that worked hardest for him than he does at those "Grumby GOPers"
And dumped progressives from his Administration all on his own, with no help from the Republicans.
...

[opihimoimoi]

47. The man is not GOD...there is no perfection ...only attempts....we all know he can do better....

someday he will reach that stage....hopefully

[begin_within]

31. Incomplete

[woo me with science]

32. He is seriously delinquent on the major economics project of the term,

partly because he has put his effort into work that was not on the syllabus and which detracts from his more important assignments. He has been ignoring many classmates who need his help and instead spending time trying to impress a few wealthy students in our class.

Barack deserves to be proud of his participation in student government, but please continue to remind him that he needs to focus on the needs of the entire class and not just a few.

Barack continues to excel in several areas. He typically shines in debate and public speaking. He is conscientious in his care for our school grounds, and he also works to ensure that other students treat the environment with respect. He made sure last term that girls participating in our work-study program received the same compensation as boys.

Barack was instrumental this term in removing some ridiculous and insulting rules that had been in place in our junior ROTC program. Not only did he make sure that all students can now participate, but he also articulated the principle behind his efforts so movingly that he changed some minds in the classroom. We are most proud of Barack when he lets his efforts shine in this way.

Barack made an attempt to do some volunteer work in the nurse's office this term. Unfortunately, he was again sidetracked by his over-focus on some wealthy students who were also working there. We were initially delighted when he promised to share the nurse's Sponge Bob band-aids with the entire class. However, our happiness quickly turned to dismay when he admitted that he had made the promise after already giving away the band-aids to his friends.

I am extremely concerned that, as a member of the student government, Barack enabled bullies in the class to grope some of our students. The groping was forcible and involved tricking the students into believing that they would otherwise not be safe on the playground. I do not need to tell you that such behavior is strongly prohibited by our classroom's constitution.

In summary, Barack remains a very bright and able student with a great deal of potential. He continues to delight us with his intelligence, social ease, and flashes of brilliance. However, he has also made some very poor decisions this term. He needs to learn to stand by his principles and treat all of his classmates with respect, and he needs to overcome his tendency to appease and ingratiate himself to the more powerful students in the class. Barack came into the classroom as perhaps one of the most promising students I have ever taught. He has a great deal of work left to do if he is to have a successful term.

[a kennedy]

33. B+

:patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot:

[Very_Boring_Name]

34. D+

[karynnj]

35. Not on a curve: B - On a curve looking at the Presidents of the last 3 decades: A+

I tried to watch as much as I could, so I think I know somewhat how hard the "test" actually was. Therefore, on domestic issues, I would give him an B. Given the difficulty because of the extreme polarization, it is remarkable that he got healthcare, financial reform and the stimulus passed. None were perfect, but all passed only by the skin of their teeth. It is not clear that they could have been improved and still passed.

So, given all that, which would be an A, why the B? The reason is that he never really forcefully got behind the climate change legislation and he gave away - for nothing - two of the "chips" that were being used in negotiating it - more nuclear plants and expanded offshore drilling. It was said in a long New Yorker piece, the David Axelrod did not think that fighting for this issue was "politically" good for the President. In fact, if Obama could have conveyed some of the positive perspective that Kerry did (which unfortunately got little media coverage in spite of (or maybe because of) Luntz's saying it was by far the top ranked sound bite when tested) that legislation could have passed - especially because it created jobs and moved to improving the country's infrastructure.) This issue is so critical and Obama's actions were, on balance, negative that it lowers the A on everything else to a B.

On foreign policy issues, I think he has had mixed success. Here, is where in 2008, I expected him to do the best. I realize that I ignored that he never spoke with mush specificity on foreign policy and that his surrogates, especially Kerry, were the ones from whom I got the impression that he would make a far bigger difference in the world. I do give him credit on New START, but that was really a fairly modest continuation of the original START treaty. On Iraq, he is moving as he said to get us out - but not on the time table he campaigned on. In Afghanistan, it is clear that he gave in to the more hawkish elements of his cabinet. (When Biden is the left most person in the national security part of the cabinet, there is a problem - as that means that there was no one (other than as we thought - the President) representing the liberal half of the Democratic party.)

The biggest foreign policy disappointment to me was that he ultimately sided with Clinton instead of Kerry and Berman and did not join the OAS in actively rejecting the rightwing coup in Honduras - and not preventing parts of the government from likely aiding the coupsters.

There was some good. Obama did back a major change in how foreign aid would be used as a means to genuinely help the people in countries like Pakistan. In addition, through some speeches, like the Cairo speech and the speech given in India, Obama has reached out to people that US policy in the past meant that reaching out was needed.
It does appear that Obama did get his administration's act together to be one of the forces trying to avoid new mass killing in Sudan. It is these examples of the good that he can do that makes me convinced that he has the potential to do better in the future.

Given the huge number of simultaneous crises that he was given, I would give him a C+ on foreign policy. (Here, I hope that as he becomes more comfortable in his own judgment he might do incredibly better on in the coming 2 years. It is very possible that the New START treaty victory and some very possible success in Sudan (especially compared to the mass violence predicted for January 2011 only 5 months ago), that Obama will be able to make some gains here.)

So, the average of B and C+ is a B-

(For the curve grade, he has far out preformed Reagan, Bush, Clinton and Bush. This might also argue that my other score is too tough. )

[mtnsnake]

44. That is one of THE best posts I've read in a long time

even though I don't agree that he has far out performed Clinton, at least not yet, but that's just me. Your post was fantastic, and your reasoning was a real pleasure to read.

I hope everyone reads it, and I appreciate the time and effort you put into such a well worded, informative post.

[Dawgs]

36. C+. Very disappointing.

:cry:

[Phx_Dem]

40. A++

[Proud Liberal Dem]

41. A-/B+

:shrug:

I've been pretty happy with what he's done so far and I generally believe he's headed in the right direction. I do hope that he gets another opportunity to work with a Democratic majority in Congress so that he can expand and improve on some of the laws that were enacted during the past two years (i.e. the Health care law, financial reform, etc.). I would also like to see him find some way to get Gitmo closed and the rest of the prisoners there adjudicated.
If the Democrats can't regain the majority anytime soon, I hope that the moderates and independents at least get rid of the teabagger/fringe Republican contingent and give us some more sane and reasonable Republicans whom are still committed to seeing this country succeed and will actually work with him and the Democrats in a truly bipartisan manner.
Barring some kind of extraordinary circumstances, I will, in no way, shape, or form, support a primary against him and will gladly support his re-election in 2012.

[Papagoose]

42. B

[Citizen Worker]

43. F without hesitation. Why? Expanded war. As Michael Moore has pointed out we are now waging six

wars with no end in sight. Further, the Constitution continues to be nothing more than a historical relic, a mere piece of paper to this president as it was to the last. There are a host of other reasons for a failing grade but war is at the top of my list.

[LibDemAlways]

56. My reasons for "FAIL" include the continuing erosion of

4th amendment rights as evidenced by TSA abuses, the giveaway to the insurance companies that he calls health care reform, bailouts for bankers, scapegoating teachers, and appointing rightwing anti-social security goons to a catfood commission to screw seniors. I'm also with you on the unnecessary, unwinable wars.

If I wanted all that shit, I'd have voted for McCain.

[MH1]

45. A- on the curve of reality

( minus because I think he made some missteps where he could've done better, and because what was accomplished wasn't communicated effectively)

Measured against my ideals? about a C. and only that high because I'm considering anything lower to be absolutely taking the country in the wrong direction (Bush I was possibly a D. Of course we know that Bush II was off the scale at 'F minus a trillion')

on edit, there's DADT and a few other really good things, even if they are small in the overall scheme of things, so I'll make it a C+.

[Swede]

46. B+

[tnvoter]

49. A.

[shayes51]

50. A/D

A for accomplishments; D for communicating with the American people about those accomplishments.
Case in point--Many people say they hate "Obamacare" when they don't know one thing about it.

[Uzybone]

51. B+ = very good

[marlakay]

52. C+

[SteveG]

54. B+

Considering what he walked into (it's rumored that shortly before the election that Obama asked his staff if "there was still time to blow his chances of winning"? I think he has done well. We aren't in a complete depression, the war in Iraq is winding down and our troops are coming out, health care is passed - though the battle isn't over. Do you have a depressive enough mentality to imagine where we would be if McCain-Palin had won? Think Texas Chain Saw Massacre on steroids, and the U.S. as the victim.

[jeanpalmer]

55. F-

Did little to address the jobs problem, escalated a failed war, f-ed up health care reform.

[Bonobo]

57. C

C+ is fairly good?

Jeez, American education.

[kwolf68]

58. C

with him peddling an increase in the military budget I may grade him down.