Der Spiegel Belittles Obama's Success

President Obama just completed the first half of his first term and can look back at two years of accomplishment that surpass what most US presidents achieved in two terms.  Yesterday was certainly a highlight, with the the landmark repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell (unconstitutional discrimination of gays in the military) and the ratification of the New Salt Treaty with Russia. 

But, according to Marc Hujer, Washington correspondent for Der Spiegel, these successes are inconsequential: 

Obama, ein Comeback Kid? Wohl kaum  .... Es wird nicht viel übrig bleiben von Obamas Erfolgen. Mit dem Atomwaffenabrüstungsvertrag können ohnehin die wenigsten Amerikaner etwas anfangen, und ob das neue Anti-Diskriminierungsgesetz für homosexuelle Soldaten viel ändert, ist ebenfalls fraglich.

(Obama a comeback kid?  Hardly....There won't be much left of Obama's successes. Most Americans don't care about a disarmament treaty, and whether anything will change with the anti-duscrimination law for homosexuals in the military is also questionable.)

Don't forget, it was Der Spiegel that called Obama's presidential bid  "a fairy tale", that he would never win the Democratic nomination, and when he did, he had no chance to beat John McCain.

German readers of Der Spiegel will never learn of Barack Obama's successes in the first two years of his presidency:

1. Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, to make it easier for women to challenge unfair pay practices in the workplace.
2. SCHIP Reauthorization, continuing funding to state programs for families with children that over-qualify for Medicare.
3. American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, that gave jobs and tax cuts to families and small businesses all across America, improved our nation's crumbling infrastructure and brought out economy back from the brink of collapse.
4. Credit CARD Act, to end the abuses perpetrated by credit card companies on the American people by expanding fairness and transparency.
5. Car Allowance Rebate System (Cash for Clunkers), providing economic incentives for consumers to turn in their older, less fuel efficient cars for more environmentally-friendly newer vehicles.
6. Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which expanded previous hate crime legislation to include perceived or actual gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability and increased federal engagement in investigating such crimes that no one thought could pass.
7. Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the product of generations of efforts (from Teddy Roosevelt to Bill Clinton) to finally enact comprehensive reforms to our nation's ailing healthcare system.
8. Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, which fixed some minor issues with the PPA and included the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, a measure to expand access to Pell Grants by removing the undue burden of federally subsidized student loans.
9. Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which for the first time since the Great Depression added rather than stripped away restrictions placed on the financial sector after their near-destruction of our economy.
10. Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, a major goal of the First Lady's "Let's Move!" initiative, that addresses the growing problems with childhood obesity by making school lunches healthier.
11. Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010 the long awaited, long overdue measure to finally end the discriminatory policy that barred openly gay and lesbian members of the armed forces from serving their country. Many gave this little chance at passage.
12. FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, to address a recent string of food safety violations and increase the FDA's regulatory role in such violations.
13. James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, providing assistance to those who were first on the scene in the hours, days and weeks after we were attacked on September 11th, 2010. This was an effort NINE years in the making.
14. New START Treaty, a HUGE foreign policy priority of the President, which will seek to curb number of nuclear arms between Russia and the United States and limit the proliferation of nuclear arms to rogue nations and terrorist organizations. He become the firs Democratic Presdient to successfully negotiate, sign and ratify a nuclear arms agreement.
15. Plus executive orders lifting President Bush's ban on stem cell research, increasing fuel efficiency in cars and high profile appointments of Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court and Elizabeth Warren to start-up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and his rescue of the American automobile industry.

Yes! We! Can!

Comments

[Strahler 70]

Der Spiegel trägt außerdem den Spitznamen BILD am Montag. Oder, wie es der große Georg Christoph Lichtenberg sagte: Wenn ein Affe in den Spiegel blickt, kann kein Apostel herausschauen.

Fröhliche Weihnachten Dir und den Deinen, David!

[Hattie]

Even Obama skeptics like me have been won over. Resistance to Progressive reform is stiff and well funded. Obama has had to work within the system.
The sourpuss attitude toward Obama assumes that people can't change and that you have to honor reactionary points of view. Not true. DADT is a permanent structural change in the military that will alter the perception of gay men and women and change attitudes.
I'm happy he's enjoying the holidays in Hawaii with his family, as I am.
And happy holidays to you, too, David.

[David]

@Hattie - Thanks, to you as well. I wish I could join you and the president in Hawaii - it's cold and snowy here in New England.

@Strahler - guten Rutsch und viel Erfolg in 2011!