“Obama’s First 100 Days…Not Bad”
Steve Adubato, Ph.D.
CBS 2 Political Analyst

By any reasonable standard, President Barack Obama has had a pretty good 100 days.  Interestingly, the last few have gotten even better, with longtime Republican US Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania leaving the GOP ranks and joining the Dems in supporting Obama’s budget plan, which includes a massive overhaul of the healthcare system. 

Clearly, the Obama administration has made many rookie mistakes, including naming several people to high-level Cabinet positions who either forgot or apparently tried to get out of paying their taxes.  The most egregious example is US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, since the Treasury Department oversees the IRS. 

But beyond Obama not knowing whether he should bow or shake hands with certain foreign dignitaries, in that very awkward moment with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez (is this guy a creep or what?) Obama has largely succeeded because of the PR/image/branding campaign he and his team have executed in the past three months.  Most of the mainstream media loves this guy and his family, including their new dog Bo.   In fact, Michelle Obama, who was seen as not an especially great asset on the campaign trail by many (when she made those dumb remarks about being “proud” for the first time in her life because of her husband’s success) has gone through a huge image overhaul.  The First Lady is on virtually every magazine that caters to women.  The Obama’s daughters take a pretty terrific picture.  Put them all together, it looks like an updated version of Camelot in the YouTube age. 

Last night, Obama did another primetime press conference.  This was his fourth.  Personally, I think it’s at least one or two too many, but tens of millions watched, and we’ll all be talking about it today.  He’s also doing a town meeting in St. Louis to mark 100 days of his presidency.  All this, while his administration says we in the media are making too much of this 100-day-marker. 

Bottom line— President Obama is doing alright, but ultimately his success or failure as President over a four-year period will not be based so much on image, PR, and his ability to get many in the mainstream media to fall at his feet; it will be how the American economy performs.  If unemployment continues to rise, and businesses continue to fold, he won’t be able to charm his way out of it.   If the stock market tanks anymore than it has, and there are more federal bailouts of critical US industries on Obama’s watch—fair or not—he’s going to take the hit for it. 

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