100 Days, 100 Blunders

I don't know why the first 100 days is so important, but apparently it's a big deal. And since polls are also so very important to Washington, all the talking heads are analyzing Obama's approval rating vs. other Presidents before him (never mind that all polls are different...). So, what have we learned? Something quite interesting, actually. Barack Obama started his reign Presidency with an approval rating of 65% (respectable). Since then, according to my buddies at Fox News, his new rating comes in just south of that at 62%. Here's a comparison chart.

Year

Interview Dates

President

% Approval

% Disapproval

% No Opinion

Initial Approval

% Change

1969	May 1-6	Richard Nixon	62	15	23	59	3
1977	Apr. 29-May 2	Jimmy Carter	63	18	19	66	-3
1981	May 8-11	Ronald Reagan	68	21	11	51	17
1989	May 4-7	George Bush	56	22	22	51	5
1993	Apr. 22-24	William J. Clinton	55	37	8	58	-3
2001	Apr. 20-22	George W. Bush	62	29	9	57	5

And what do we notice? Since Nixon, every GOP President has seen an increase in his rating after 100 days, while every Dem. President has seen a decrease in his approval rating after 100 days. Obviously there are a million factors that go into this, but I'm finding the change in rating very interesting.

To further highlight Obama's first 100, the NY Post ran a piece on 100 blunders that his administration has made, some of them lighthearted jests (Obama didn't adopt a dog from a shelter), but most of them big slaps in the face. Some of my favorites...

28. In their first meeting, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown gave Obama a carved ornamental penholder from the timbers of the anti-slavery ship HMS Gannet. Obama gave him 25 DVDs that don't work in Europe.

48. "While the online question portion of the White House town hall was open to any member of the public with an Internet connection, the five fully identified questioners called on randomly by the president in the East Room were anything but a diverse lot. They included: a member of the pro-Obama Service Employees International Union, a member of the Democratic National Committee who campaigned for Obama among Hispanics during the primary; a former Democratic candidate for Virginia state delegate who endorsed Obama last fall in an op-ed in the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star; and a Virginia businessman who was a donor to Obama's campaign in 2008." -- Washington Post, 3/27

54. After saying he wouldn't have lobbyists in his administration, Obama made 17 exceptions in the first two weeks in office.

Now of course this list includes big gaffes like his Special Olympics comment, his "bowing" incident, and how his two flights on Earth Day used 9,000 gallons of fuel.

The liberal media (TV and internet) remains faithfully by his side, calling out any attack by Fox News. Digg, a site I frequent every day, is always digging up articles from Huffington and the Daily Kos, and anyone who comments against Obama or in favor of "Faux News" is immediately buried. Take this article for example. This is the sort of thing (story and comments) that is typical of any politcal article on Digg. Still, it's humorous that the video from the Daily Kos is mostly just a string of "attacks" from Fox's opinion triumvirate (Hannity, Bill-O, and Beck) where they say things like "Socialism" and "Fascism." They're quick to call out Fox for roughing up Obama, but when their own networks point out the same mistakes? Check out this video below that feature anchors like NBC's Brian Williams.