The First 100 Days

The first 100 days, the more or less traditional breaking in time for a new president, is almost upon us. The media will be all over President Barack Obama as he reaches this presumably important milestone. My guess is that the gushing will go far beyond cloying and into sickly sweet.

But what has he done? He's proposed skyrocketing deficits, which he lambasted Republicans over. He's allowed embryonic stem cell research and for the use of taxpayers money for abortions. He took forever to put together a cabinet, and has not made any real headway in securing a budget, and that last part with a Democratic Congress supposedly at his beck and call. He's signed the order to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay despite not having any place to put the detainees. In short, I don't see where we ought to be impressed.

Sure, many folks will say he hasn't had time to effect a lot of changes or institute new policies, and I will give him a begrudging amount of slack on that point. But there's nothing yet to show me that he truly has a handle on things.

Time, perhaps, will tell. I will but ask: is it worth the wait?