"Guess Who's in the White House"

On April 1, a USA Today/Gallup Poll indicated that President Barack Obama had a job approval rating of 44%, while 50% of those polled said he should not be re-elected as President. The poll also indicated that 26% said that he deserved "a great deal" of the blame for the state of the economy, while 42% said President Bush did.

About two months before the USA Today/Gallup Poll, President Bush had given a speech before a Republican gathering and had said with an air of confidence: "I left office with my values in tact," which drew a round of applause. His statement was incomplete. It should have concluded with the words, "and with the country in a big mess."

That mess included an annual federal budget deficit of $1.3 trillion, a projected federal deficit of $8 trillion over the next ten years, owing to tax cuts, mainly to the wealthy that the Bush administration did not pay for, a nearly trillion dollar prescription drug bill for the pharmaceutical industry not paid for, and the loss of $3 trillion in federal revenue owing to the recession.

The recession was also part of the mess, as was a huge fall in stock market shares, a loss of 750,000 jobs a month, and over 8,000,000 jobs lost, a collapsing corporate financial system, two major automobile manufacturers, General Motors and Chrysler, on the verge of going under, and America's image in the world at low ebb.

President Bush walked away from the audience he spoke to clutching a fantasy. And President Obama stepped into office with an overload of huge problems. He also quickly learned that the Republicans in Congress had decided, under their House and Senate leadership, to do whatever they could to make him fail as President.

That included vigorously opposing his legislative agenda; in the Senate, holding up scores of his appointments to cripple the functioning of his administration, and using the filibuster an unprecedented number of times- - to date, 113 times- - to delay, thwart, and to suppress legislation that the House sent to the Senate that would advance the President and the Democratic Party's agenda.

Republicans in the Congress decided not to be the party of "loyal opposition", but the "party of no," the "party of extreme partisanship," and the "party of obstruction." Republicans in the Senate are presently holding up 293 bills that the House has passed and sent to their chamber.

All that has been described has been placed heavily upon the shoulders of President Obama. It should be taken into account when considering how to rate his job performance. The other matters to take into account are the things he achieved during the sixteen months he has been in office.

But before revealing that, I want to preface that discussion by recalling the plot to the movie "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" directed by Stanley Kramer which starred Spencer Tracey, Katherine Hepburn, Sidney Poitier, and Hepburn's niece.

The plot was the following. The parents, played by Tracey and Hepburn, were to be confronted with the fact that their daughter, played by Hepburn's niece, was going to marry a Black man, played by Sidney Poitier. The plot called for the parents to reject the marriage simply because the fiance was a Black man.

This could be the only reason, because the fiance was tall and handsome, had stellar personal qualities, was well educated, well spoken, and was an internationally famous medical doctor and author. In the end, the parents transcended their racial biases and were able to accept the marriage.

Now back to the political situation at hand, that of President Obama's low job rating and a wish that he not be re-elected. Given what he has achieved over a period of sixteen months, these negative views seem clearly to be related to the phrase: "Guess Who's in the White House."

The following are some of the things that President Obama has achieved sixteen months into his administration:

Within 3 1/2 weeks of it and aided by the Democratic Party in Congress, he got a $780billion Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed to deal with the recession and massive unemployment. The Act included giving 95% of working families a tax cut.

After 16 months, and also aided by the Federal Reserve, the President has halted the recession, gotten the American economy back into growth, has elevated the stock market from 6500 points to over 11,000, that has helped to recover and protect 401ks, and retirement and pension funds. Unemployment has been stabilized at 9.7%, and in March of this year, 162,000 new jobs were created.

The President and his economic team were put in charge of managing the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Plan (or TARP) to bail out or to salvage 18 of the largest banks in the country, to keep the corporate financial system from collapsing. This was done successfully, which included spending only half the TARP funds, getting the banks to pay back most of what had been borrowed, and with the government and taxpayers making a profit. The President also:

Saved both General Motors and Chrysler, holding out a future of millions of jobs that are related to auto manufacturing.

Signed the ESCHIP legislation that extended health care to 11 million children.

Signed a bill that outlawed cigarette advertising targeting children.

Signed a bill to guarantee women equal pay for equal work.

Put a Supreme Court Justice on the high bench.

Signed a bill to give educational benefits to veterans.

Passed and signed comprehensive health care reform legislation that seven previous Presidents had failed to pass. According to the Congressional Budget Office this health care reform legislation will reduce the Federal deficit by $138 billion over ten years and $1.2 trillion over two decades, which will represent the largest deficit reduction legislation ever passed in the country.

Passed and signed an education reform bill that will save $68 billion over ten years by having the government issue student loans and not the banks, and that will allow the government to invest more money directly into American education.

Lowered 25 different taxes for Americans.

Invested $3.4 billion in developing the electric smart grid to expand this form of energy in the country's future.

Proposed a comprehensive climate change and energy independence bill that was passed by the House, and that Republicans are stalling in the Senate.

Proposed comprehensive corporate financial reform legislation that was passed by the House, that Republicans in the Senate initially sought to kill, but which they now, under Presidential and public pressure, seem willing to join Democrats in that body in passing.

Received the Nobel Prize for Peace on the assumption made by the judges that he would make the world safer and more peaceful. The President is earning that prize. He got the Russian President Dimitry Medvedev to sign a START agreement to reduce each country's nuclear stockpiles.

Since the USA Today/Gallup Poll, the President assembled 46 world leaders in Washington, D.C., who all signed a pledge to secure lose nuclear material within four years. Russia agreed to destroy 34 tons of plutonium, which could help to make 17,000 nuclear weapons.

Ordered hospitals receiving Medicare and Medicaid payments to grant hospital visitation rights to same-sex partners, and to allow gay men and lesbians to make decisions regarding the medical treatment of their partners.

As can be seen, President Obama has done a number of important things during his sixteen months in office (some of which are also achievements of the Democratic Party). One can see how his approval rating could and should be much higher than 44%, and it is mysterious to say the least that 50% in the USA Today/Gallup Poll would not want him to be re-elected.

Are we witnessing responses that could be related to a distressing thought for many Americans, and that would help to explain why President Obama has not been given proper credit for what he has achieved, and why many insist that he has not served the country well? These peculiar reactions seem clearly to be related to the phrase: "Guess who's in the White House?"