Day: April 29, 2009

I give President Obama an A-. The reason it is a minus is threefold. First, I hate the continuation of the state secrets privilege, but my concern over it is tempered by the fact that Courts will overrule it, as it did today. Second, I am not keen on Giethner’s closeness with Wall Street, and would have preferred some Krugman-style nationalization of the failed banks. But my concern over that is tempered by the fact that we are slowly moving that way anyway, with Geithner finding out that stress tests reveal that 6 of the 19 banks tested failed. Finally, the lack of prosecution of the Bush war criminals who approved torture. I understand the practicality and pragmatism, that Obama doesn’t want these prosecutions to be seen as politically motivated, and he doesn’t want them to consume his presidency or his political capital. That is understandable, but it doesn’t make it right. So I hope there is a Truth Commission.

Otherwise, President Obama’s first 100 days have been spectular. Let’s recap, with a hat tip to Al Rodgers at Daily Kos (go there for the pretty pictures):