Nine Months

So, President Obama has been in the Oval Office for almost exactly the same amount of time that it takes to make a baby, start to finish. (Though "finish" doesn't seem quite the right word. Afterwards, you're hardly "finished." But that's a discussion for another day. Now back to our regularly scheduled program:)

So...how's he doing? Well, he's already got George W. "Chimpy" Bush beat: by this time in Bush's presidency, there were two less skyscrapers in New York City and the Pentagon was in flames. But is it fair to compare Obama to Bush? Not really. Kinda like comparing a greyhound to a retarded squirrel. All attempts at comparison fail.

How about to Bill Clinton? He was a pretty good President (if you put aside all that intern-boinking business, I mean). By this time in Clinton's presidency? He was pretty much considered a failure by then, based on the press reports at the time. The "gays-in-the-military" issue really smacked him in the face from Day One and it took a long time to become Mr. Popularity. (In fact, he didn't become really REALLY popular until after the right-wing hate machine went after him and he survived his impeachment. But we don't wish that on Barack, do we?)

I guess you'd have to judge Barack on his own merits, eh? To that end: He's kicking ass. Keeping campaign promises. Reversing draconian Bush rules. Concentrating on health care reform in his first term, like he said he would. Trying to broker peace in the Middle East right up front, too (instead of in his last year like his two predecessors.) Making sure "diplomacy" is no longer a dirty word in Washington. Winning Nobel prizes. Lookin' sharp. Dressin' fine. Feelin' good.

The Chimpy stink isn't quite off the rose yet. We're still recovering from the Bush Recession and will be for some time. Climate change isn't going to be easy to combat either. And health care reform is close, but there's no bill to sign. Yet.

I'm a pretty serious Obama backer, but in the interests of fairness, I'm giving him a B+ instead of an "A." Still too much to be done by his one-year anniversary to warrant top marks.

But he's moving in the right direction, that's for damn sure. How can you tell?

The right-wing media machine wants his HEAD. That's a dead giveaway that he should keep up the good work.