Following his State of the Union address, The Michigan Review editorial board sat down and rated a few of President Obama's accomplishments during his first year in office.
- Health care, B+: From the start, Democrats in Washington shut Republicans out of the room on health care, pushing a “public option” which would kick millions of their current plans while leaving tens of millions uninsured. Other bad ideas still on the table include: a tax on the medical device industry, a tax on high-end “Cadillac” plans (unions exempt), a new tax on high-income earners (read: small businesses), and a tax on insurance companies which will be passed on directly to consumers. The spending of the equation is just as disastrous, since every independent analysis has shown each Democratic plan would increase, not decrease, health care spending. Those in tune with the realities of government accounting methods known that the President's plans will increase our already jaw-dropping deficit. For these reasons and many, many more, we want this health care bill stopped. We applaud the president for overreaching.
- Energy, A-/D-: The last thing a manufacturing-intensive state like Michigan needs is a bill that would choke economic growth while having zero impact on man-induced climate change. On the legislative front, the President has absolutely no political capital to try and push a cap-and-trade plan which would accomplish all of these things, and for this, we are thankful. However, on the regulatory front, we are deeply concerned that the administration will move to regulate carbon dioxide without the approval of elected officials and the American people. Carbon is essential to every productive economic activity, and the Obama administration must keep this in mind when dealing with energy. The threat of the new top-down carbon regulations earn the administration a near failing grade.
- Spending, F: We might be naïve college students, but we know a sleight of hand when we see one. In anticipation of his budget plan for 2011, the President has touted $20 billion in “savings,” a three-year freeze on discretionary spending, and has talked a tough game on reforming wasteful earmarks. Talk is cheap. Obama signed a $447 billion omnibus spending bill with more than 5,220 earmarks, blaming it on President Bush. The President could have vetoed the bill and sent Congress a strong message to get their act together, but he didn't. The discretionary spending freeze should be interpreted as an election year gimmick to shield vulnerable Democrats, not as a mechanism that will have any effect on our rapidly deteriorating fiscal situation. The $1 trillion “stimulus” bill may have helped stave off short-term unemployment, but the majority of the package had nothing to do with job growth. The President should halt any new spending in the name of economic stimulus, and instead focus on getting the government out of the way of true sustainable job growth in the private sector. Until then, Obama gets a failing grade on spending.
- Union “card check” bills, A-: We're thrilled that Congress doesn't have any plans to move on the Employee Free Choice Act, a bill which would effectively end the secret ballot for workers who are deciding whether or not to join a union. Talk about a job-killer.
- Foreign policy, C+: The President understands the importance of not pulling out American troops from Afghanistan too quickly, and on this, we sincerely applaud him. Terrorists shouldn't be tried on American soil, nor should they be given the same rights of law-abiding citizens. We do, however, wish the president would act on ending our title as The World's Policeman, hardly an anti-conservative stance.
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