White House Suggests Obama Is Superman For Overcoming 8 Years Of Bush Ruination
Mar 10, 2009 17 Comments ›› Pat Dollard
W.H. hits 50-day mark with pride
With President Barack Obama at the halfway mark of his first 100 days in office, the White House is declaring that Americans should be “proud†of all the new president has gotten done.
And his team wants the American people to know, it wasn’t easy.
Obama’s press secretary Robert Gibbs said the record is notable – especially considering “the many challenges that we face, the number of things that the president has had to tackle.â€
“I think, not just this administration, but I think the American people can be proud of in getting us on a path towards a sustained economic recovery,†Gibbs said, when asked to sum up progress Tuesday.
“He understood that not all our challenges would be met in 50 days, that there would be much work to do and that’s why I guess the Founders were graceful enough to extend our tenure beyond that 50 day mark,†Gibbs said.
The White House spokesman also argued that Obama came into office facing a particularly daunting array of challenges brought on by nearly a decade of imprudent decisions.
“If we look at how our economy grew in the first sort of seven or eight years in this decade, I think most economists would, at least now, go back and tell you that a lot of our ‘growth’ was fueled by questionable mortgage lending practices and mounds of credit card debt,†Gibbs said.
It’s been a busy stretch. Obama revisited Bush-era policies on torture and the Guantanamo Bay prison, proposed to remake U.S. health care by year’s end, offered new rescue efforts for the housing and financial services sectors, expanded government stakes in Citigroup and American International Group, put forth a $3.7 trillion budget and announced his education policy Tuesday.
As president, Obama has signed a total of six bills. The most notable was the $787 billion stimulus legislation. He also signed a bill expanding children’s health insurance coverage and another making it easier to file suits alleging gender discrimination in the workplace. Another bill he signed was a so-called continuing resolution continuing temporary funding for federal agencies still awaiting a final appropriation for the current fiscal year. The two other measures were a bill to rename a post office in Illinois and legislation postponing the national conversion to digital television for about four months.
