[Peace-discuss] Fw: Obama's First 100 Days -- The Black Agenda Report Card

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Subject: Obama's First 100 Days -- The Black Agenda Report Card 


Obama's First 100 Days -- The Black Agenda Report Card  
Submitted by Bruce A. Dixon on Wed, 04/29/2009 

by BAR Managing Editor Bruce A. Dixon

Why a Report Card At All?

The hundred day report card is an enduring tradition in American journalism for a very good reason. It's journalism's job to help citizens make sense of the world, to seek the truth and tell it without fear or favor no matter where it leads. Three months and a week into a new administration, everybody knows where the mens and ladies rooms are, most of the key hires are in place, and the bus has definitely cleared the station. There's plenty of evidence by now to assess where it's going, and whether it's anyplace we really ought to be headed.
 
Should We Grade President Obama on What He Promised, or on What People Need?

The answer to this should be easy. It all depends on whether we imagine government derives its authority from the blessedness of anointed men and women in office, or whether legitimacy comes from the informed consent of the governed. Most of us who were not home schooled learned it the latter way: governments are legit only insofar as they serve the people. Limiting the scope of a report card to what politicians promise confers upon them the power to lock down our collective imagination and deny our hunger and thirst for justice before we can even express it.
&nbs p;
Why These Categories?

Because these are the issues that matter to our people. As the journal of African American political thought and action, they are what our authors write about every week.
 
1. Health Care Reform (9 points)
2. Creating New Jobs and Preserving Old Ones (5 points)
3. Fully Funding and Preserving Public Education (6 points)
4. War & Peace (9 points)
5. Transportation (5 points)
6. Caribbean and Latin America (4 points)
7. Obama's Africa Policy; Our Brotherman and the Motherland (5 points)
8. Wall Street Bailout (6 points)
9. Debt and Foreclosure Crises (6 points)
10. Investigating Bush-era Crimes (5 points)
11. Criminalizing Immigration, Militarizing the Border (5 points)
12. Broadband For Everyone and a Just and Fair Media (5 points)
13. Environment (5 points)
14. Agricultural Policy, and Policy Toward Black Farmers (5 points)
15. Mass imprisonment (5 points)
16. Employee Free Choice Act (5 points)
17. Urban Policy (5 points)
18. Privatization of Government Agencies and Services (5 points)

Read the details at:

http://www.blackagendareport.com/?q=content%2Fobamas-first-100-days-black-agenda-report-card
  


1. Health Care Reform (9 points) Four out of nine.
2. Creating New Jobs and Preserving Old Ones (5 points)One point out of five for the Obama rhetoric on green jobs,
3. Fully Funding and Preserving Public Education (6 points) Zero points here of a possible six.
4. War & Peace (9 points)Zero out of nine points. 
5. Transportation (5 points)Four points out of five. 
6. Caribbean and Latin America (4 points)One and a half points out of four. 
7. Obama's Africa Policy; Our Brotherman and the Motherland (5 points)We'll give him one point out of five anyway, for no good reason. Call it hope.
8. Wall Street Bailout (6 points)Zero points out of six.
9. Debt and Foreclosure Crises (6 points)a single hopeful point out of six.
10. Investigating Bush-era Crimes (5 points)Zero out of five.
11. Criminalizing Immigration, Militarizing the Border (5 points)Two out of five. 
12. Broadband For Everyone and a Just and Fair Media (5 points)Two points awarded here for substance, and one for hope. Three out of five.
13. Environment (5 points)One point out of five.
14. Agricultural Policy, and Policy Toward Black Farmers (5 points)two points of a possible five 
15. Mass imprisonment (5 points)Zero out of five.
16. Employee Free Choice Act (5 points)Two points of a possible five, and slipping. 
17. Urban Policy (5 points)One out of five.
18. Privatization of Government Agencies and Services (5 points)Zero points out of five.


A hundred days is far too early for anyone to score a hundred points on a list of concerns like these. 55 would have been passing, and 45 a sign of hopes being actually redeemed on some fronts.  But at under 25 out of a possible 100 our First Black President  is at best a chronic underacheiver, as far as the real needs of African Americans go. 




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