How is Obama Doing

How is Obama doing? I spoke to two close friends about this in the last 24 hours. One felt that the world was in terrible shape and that Obama was a real hope. The other felt that the world is in bad shape and Obama is destroying America. This is a tricky question. How is Obama doing?

First of all one might ask does it matter? It could be that politicians are all the same and that what they do does not affect the future of our society. It could be that there are other forces that are controlling our future and that politicians, including Obama, are influenced by these forces. These forces might include the collective consciousness of the American people and of the world population, forces that are aligned to whatever or whomever created us, astrological or other planetary influences, spiritual forces, evolutionary forces, forces of history and destiny, or other forces that we that we may not be aware of.

If Obama and/or other politicians are just puppets or actors in a theater of some unknown creator than we need to ask another question How are things going in the world? Are they improving? Are they getting worse? I will save this question for another time and get back to the question about Obama.

For arguments sake let us assume that it does matter how Obama is doing and that his actions do have an impact on the state of our world. Lets evaluate him on his economic actions, his foreign affairs actions, and the state of mind of the American people, our mood since he has taken over as President.

The question of the mood of America is obviously subjective and personal. In this matter, from my point of view there is an improved state of mind in the U.S. with Obama. There are many people who don't like him and feel that he too socialist and too soft on terrorism, but, for the most part, I believe that the majority of Americans are positive towards him and what he is doing. This might change if the economy gets much worse or some unforeseen crises occurs, but right now, May 8,2009 at 3:14 PM with the dow up over 150 points, the weather getting nicer, and the Swine Flu fears declining, the American state of mind is improved and improving.

In regard to the economy my opinion about Obama is not as favorable. I believe he has a viewpoint that the Government should help the people. I agree with that. I believe that he feels that the way we can help the people is through stimulating the economy by giving trillions of dollars to various programs and individuals. I also agree with this. What I am not sure of is whether or not he is effectively managing the distribution of this money. I have been involved with two programs that have been impacted by Obama's actions. One concerns mortgage adjustments and the other concerns energy conservation. Both seem a little out of control to me.

I am also not sure how clearly he sees the mathematical impact of his programs on future generations or even of its effect over the next ten years. It is one thing to have the noble idea that we must help everyone as much as possible in the fairest way possible. It is another thing to understand , from a numbers point of view, what is the best way to accomplish this in the long run. Obviously, in the short run, when you give away a lot of money this will have a positive effect, but I'm just not sure of the long term implications.

In regard to Obama's handling of foreign affairs and his effect on the world situation I am more positive. The most important goal at this time in world affairs is to prevent nuclear war. This is an unacceptable outcome. There are other important goals including fighting poverty, disease, discrimination, and crime.

I think that Obama has a deeper understanding of the big picture and a vision of how the world should be that is at a high level. He understands that we must learn to get along with each other. He realizes that the rhetoric about the danger of America showing weakness is true up to a point. We cannot put ourselves in a dangerous or precarious situation where our security is threated. However we must speak to our enemies and try to work out solutions with them until it becomes apparent that there is no hope and that they are an imminent threat to our safety. In addition we must conduct ourselves as a country in a way that commands the respect and admiration of all the world's people. I believe that Obama is on board with this thinking.
And I have some confidence in his handling foreign affairs.

All in all I would give him a B-. I am a hard grader, and he still hasn't proven himself to deserve any higher. He has shown me though some encouraging signs.