President Obama

The long-anticipated inauguration ceremony went very well, I think. I found Obama’s speech to be gracious while still pointed. I don’t want to say much more about it, because every blogger who’s ever discussed American politics is posting something like this today, and I don’t really have anything new to add. I just want to say congratulations to President Obama and Vice President Biden. Here’s hoping that we were right to have hope.

Speaking of which, I want to point you to the Obameter, maintained by PolitiFact.com, if you haven’t seen it already. They’re keeping track of the 500+ promises that Obama made during his campaign, and marking each one with their status (kept, broken, in the works, etc.). I saw it mentioned first on the Reason Hit & Run blog yesterday, and at a few other places since then. I’ve generally seen it discussed with a sort of sore-loser snark (at H&R, not so much in the post itself as in the comments) but I think it’s something we should all be celebrating, even if we’re happy that Obama won the election. It’s a fantastic example of how technology can bring us better government, increase transparency and promote accountability through availability of information.

Politicians have been making campaign promises all over the place for as long as there have been politicians. Everyone gripes about how they don’t follow through. Oh, politicians, those dishonest, lying crooks! (Insert melodramatic fist-shake here.) But seriously, I think a lot of things just get forgotten. We’re talking about many hundreds of statements made. It’s not malice on the part of the politician, but simply things getting hectic and other issues taking the forefront, displacing that half a sentence in a speech to the crowd outside the Piggly-Wiggly in Tuscaloosa. If the public is really invested in that promise being carried out, a website like this one can serve as a reminder to the politician that he or she did make it. On the other hand, the website might reveal to citizens that the “big” promises do get the follow-through, while smaller and less important daydreams and wishes don’t get a politician’s priority. Either way, it’s a valuable reality check for everyone.

I also want to caution against becoming too obsessed with these records. Some of these promises hinge on Congress going along with what Obama wants, and while the president ought to work with the legislature to get his agenda through, he doesn’t have 100% control over the outcome. Additionally, some things have changed over the past year, and the president ought to reconsider his positions when the relevant information has changed. (I mean, really, if we’ve learned anything from the last eight years…!) Finally, we need to get real and understand that saying “I will work for x” is not the same as “I promise, x will definitely happen immediately when I take office.”

As happy as I am to be able to say “President Obama,” I won’t give him a free pass. We should all hold our elected officials accountable, which is why I’m glad the Obameter is up and running on inauguration day. Still, guys, remember he’s only been president for three hours. Give him a little more time to get started on the tax code.

  • email
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook

January 20, 2009 · Written by
Tags: ,

Comments

Leave a Reply