Obama's first year: the MU perspective

Health care and economy dominated the headlines.

By Andrea Kszystyniak

Published Feb. 9, 2010

Correction appended

When President Barack Obama made a campaign stop at MU five days before his election, he said he'd work to turn around the economy and pass health care legislation.

Although those two topics have dominated the headlines in Obama's first year as president, he's accomplished some things and faced a bevy of challenges.

"They have the greatest opportunity to get things done right when they get into office because they're the winners," political science professor Marvin Overby said. "The other party is in disarray, the other party has sort of lost its leadership."

When Obama spoke here Oct. 30, 2008, he preached hope and change, but some people on campus say they haven't seen enough of that.

Economy

Obama entered his presidency during an economic crisis and attempted to turn it around with various policies, most notably the $787 billion stimulus package and bailouts to the country's biggest banks and auto companies.

The economy has seen a turnaround, but unemployment has reached record numbers. Economics professor Joseph Haslag said the improvement might not have had anything to do with the stimulus package.

"In my view, the growth that we saw in the third and fourth quarter of the U.S. economy might have been stronger had he not implemented the stimulus project," Haslag said.

The stimulus package approved by Obama surprised many students, including former MU College Republicans Chairman Jonathan Ratliff.

"I think his ideas for fixing fiscal policy didn't work,” Ratliff said. “It put us massively in debt. It's like damn, you campaign on reigning in spending and then you go in and spend."

Health care

Obama's decision to push through health care reform was perhaps one of the most controversial aspects of his first year as president.

Various plans arose in the House and Senate, but the White House was criticized for not clearly explaining its plan from the start. There was an overwhelming backlash from Republicans and the grassroots "tea bag" movement, which protested the plan at town halls across the country. Since, the Senate pushed through an $871 billion health care bill.

Senior nursing student Betsey Emshoff said she doubts the proposed plan will work, citing the recession as a reason the government will be unable to cover so many people.

"Hospitals already have to cover a lot of what people can't pay," Emshoff said. "It's already hard enough. As (registered nurses), we're not getting hired because of that."

Overby said the health care bill came too soon in the presidency.

"It was a choice he made and I think that had the administration fully realized how deep the economic crisis was going to be and how long it was going to last, they probably would have postponed health care," he said.

Foreign policy

There's a general sense that the international community views Obama in a better light than it has former presidents, especially George W. Bush. Obama spoke in Cairo over the summer and called for a new beginning to relations with the Middle East. Because of his commitment to bettering relationships overseas, he won the Nobel Peace Prize.

MU College Democrats President Amanda Shelton said Obama broke the cycle of negative representation by past administrations.

"President Obama made it clear to the global community that we are again a full partner in the pursuit for peace and that we have learned the lessons of the last eight years," she said.

But with domestic issues, such as health care and the economy stealing the focus of the nation, it's easy to forget there are still wars going on. On Dec. 1, Obama sent an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan, a move that surprised political science professor Cooper Drury.

"Once you sit in that chair, it's a different world and for that I give him a lot of credit because there are presidents that have a difficult time making that switch," Drury said. "They resist that idea of sitting in that chair and putting that ideology aside."

Social issues

Obama undertook a variety of social reform measures during his first year in office, showing attempts — though not always successful — to reach out to minority groups, and also changing his drug policy from past administrations. He ended the war on drugs and has taken a pro-medicinal marijuana stance, issues of great contention during the Bush presidency.

Students for Sensible Drug Policy employee Amber Langston said Obama has been doing reasonably well making changes to marijuana policies.

"Obama has sent a clear signal that the federal government does not need to waste time and resources prosecuting doctors in states that have legal medical marijuana," Langston said.

Obama also appointed Sonia Sotomayor as the first female Hispanic judge to the Supreme Court.

"I just think its cool how he's trying to provide role models for everyone," said Carolina Astrain, president of the Hispanic American Leadership Organization and a former Maneater staff member. "(Sotomayor) has real credentials. I think we're really lucky that he is able to recognize it. "

Obama promised increased rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning citizens. Benefits were extended to gay partners of federal workers, and Obama signed hate crimes legislation making it illegal to assault someone because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

But he's faced criticism for being slow to act on his promise to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," which forces LGBTQ community members to hide their sexuality and identity in the armed forces.

Triangle Coalition President Erin Horth said Obama's first year was somewhat disappointing because he paid little attention to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" until the very end of the year.

"Certainly the first year was a little disappointing," she said. "Up until the last few days, there was no attention brought to DADT and because that's such a simple thing policy-wise to change, it's frustrating that it took a year."