President Obama's First 100 Days --- Hell, Yeah!

There were those Italians who said their country was better when Mussolini was in charge, citing the timeliness of trains under his reign.

There were those Spaniards who said their country was better when Franco was in charge, citing the increased sexual openness after his demise.

And I’m sure there are those Iraqis who say their country was better when Saddam Hussein was in charge. They might have a point, from a day-to-day living point of view.

But those Americans who say this country was better when President George W. Bush was in charge?

They’re full of shit.

First, it’s only been 100 days since President Obama took office.

Second, I believe, but I’m not certain, that:

*President Obama has had more press conferences during his first 100 days then President Bush had during his last term;

*President Obama has taken more action to fight the recession than President Bush did.

*President Obama has done more to earn respect from foreign nations than did President Bush.

*President Obama has put the U.S. on higher moral ground in terms of foreign policy and international law than the moral morass we were in under the Bush administration. For those ignorant Americans who believe that American foreign policy means beating your opponents into submission and twisting the arms of your allies to get them to fight with you, just wait and see what happens when the U.S. is no longer the largest economic engine in the world and India and China start twisting our arms. No empire – whether it’s the Roman, British, Chinese, or Persian – stays on top forever. That’s just God’s way of shuffling the power deck, IMHO.

*President Obama actually wants to observe international law, not subvert it. By the way, Dick Cheney, I wouldn’t accept any packages or heavy envelopes from The Hague if I were you.

*President Obama has taken policy stances on or has stated his intention to take policy stances on issues of importance to everyday Americans – health care, education (I’m so digging the direct student loan program), the environment (no more silence on the mountaintop mining issue!), tax cuts for the middle class, the war on terrorism (It’s Afghanistan, stupid!), the credit card industry (die, Visa, die!), federal spending (going over the budget with a fine-toothed comb and finding savings, even if they are small in comparison to the deficit -- still waiting for that Republican budget!), international economic competitiveness (no more gas guzzling SUVs, GM – what’s good for GM isn’t necessarily good for American OR the environment), torture (waterboarding IS torture!) and more.

And what’s impressive is that I, an everyday citizen, can actually tell you what the President is working on. President Bush? If he was working at all, it was a mystery to me.

The stock market is slowly starting to edge up. The real estate market just might be bottoming out. And I actually know what my President is trying to do for my country. That alone is a stark improvement over the last eight years.

I’ll take President Obama’s first 100 days over President Bush’s eight years any day, hell yeah!