What Obama's B+ MeansDuring her "Christmas at the White House" special Sunday night, Oprah Winfrey asked President Obama what grade he'd give himself for his first year in office, and the newish commander-in-chief promptly said, "A good solid B+."
He defended his grade by citing the intimidating list of challenges his administration inherited last January, and acknowledged that his first year has not been without setbacks. If he'd been able to pass a public option, for example, he says he'd deserve an "A-."
Since not all grades are created equal, how you perceive Obama's self-given mark likely depends on what "B+" means to you. The question is, what might it mean to Obama? At the University of Chicago, where he was a law professor when I was in a Master's program there, a "B+" is not thought of as a very good grade. Students often freak out if they get one, as I did myself.
I remember a professor breaking the grades at Chicago down like this: an "A" means great work; an "A-" says you did well but not flawlessly, and a "B+" means there may be a problem. An "A" is hard to come by, and requires a serious commitment to the task at hand. Anything below a "B" is grounds for rethinking your life. I hope that Mr. Obama's "B+" means something more like the "B+" of my pre-grad schooling: a commendable effort that could become an "A" with just a little bit more work. I know that's how I see his presidency thus far. What grade would you give the president?
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He definitely gets a D-. He's failing in just abt every category. This shows in the polls as he now holds the lowest approval rating after a year of all modern time presidents. Obama and the Liberals just don't get it.
What don't they "get" and what do you suggest they do to start "getting it"?
Also, are you serious about the D-? You may not like Obama any more than I liked G.W. Bush, but even I'd have given him a better grade than D-. After all, he ran the country for eight years and only a few things blew up.
I don't mind debate, but your comment doesn't make a worthwhile argument. If you're going to complain about Obama, or anything, why not back it up with something more than "Obama's a failure" and "Liberals just don't get it."
Such unqualified platitudes don't really help your case.
I agree with the "D" grade, but I would give the same grade to most of congress, as well (even the Republicans).
The reason? They all took an oath to uphold the constitution, and NONE of them are doing it! Instead, they're looking for just about any way to get AROUND the constitution to implement policies that they want.
Sen. Lincoln, for example, said that "I just think the Constitution charges Congress with the health and well-being of the people", when the words "heath" and "well-being" don't appear ANYWHERE in the constitution.
Pelosi's only answer to the question of the constitutionality of the health care bill was an incredulous "Are you serious?"
In all his reasons for why we need this or that, Obama never even MENTIONS the consitution. Of course, that would be because he knows that 99% of his agenda is far outside of the constitutional jurisdiction that the federal government was given by our founders.
Bush I would have given a "C-", simply because he understood the difference between prosecuting a war and treating terrorism like a law enforcement issue (the same mistake Clinton made). But even there, he abused the constitution by never asking congress for a formal declaration of war, therefore giving his opponents just cause to refer to the war as "illegal".
The constitution is the highest law of the land. It's time our lawmakers start respecting and obeying it!
Rachel
Obama has had an unbelievably difficult job this past year. Every new president inherits problems from his predecessor but not as many or as difficult as the problems Obama has coped with. I give him a B for taking on the challenges he has. He could have postponed a few, but he didn't. He tackled all of them his first year in office. Maybe we are idealistic expecting him to achieve them all. Give him a break, he's working very hard.