Our President’s Accomplishments. Get The Facts Here.
Oct 13th, 2009 | By Laura Ashley | Category: All Content, Politics
Oh snap! (meslissachungfat.com)
Our President’s Accomplishments
By: Laura-Ashley
Oct. 12, 2009
According to the committee of the Noble Peace Prize, Obama has been awarded “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” He was nominated for the prize while less than two weeks in office. How he accomplished “international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples” in less than two-weeks—shouldn’t be just a Nobel Peace Prize, but a World Record. Besides “strengthening international diplomacy and cooperation” what else has he done since becoming president?
Well first off, determining what exactly is an “accomplishments” may prove difficult. Not because, he doesn’t have any accomplishments, but for the reason that what may be considered an “accomplishment” to one individual may not be considered as accomplishment to another. So, I feel the best way to truly judge Obama’s accomplishments would be to examine how many campaign promises he has kept. I feel basing his accomplishments on the amount of promises he has fulfilled is a fair evaluation
Politifact.com reveals that Obama has made “more than 500 promises during his campaign.” An example of some of those promises: creating more green jobs, closing Guantanamo Bay and to the commonly known national health-care. Politifact.com has also stated that out of the 500+ promises, there are at least 25 that can be qualified as the top 25. However, how the top 25 promises became the “top” is undisclosed.
Let’s examine the “top 25 promises: Illustrated below statistically are how many of those top 25 promises Obama kept, broke, stalled, is currently working on or hasn’t worked on at all. [Source]. For more information regarding the specific promises calculated click Here.
| The Top 25 Promises: | No./25 | Percentages: |
| 1. Promises kept | 2 | 8% |
| 2. Compromised promise | 1 | 4% |
| 3. Promises broken | 1 | 4% |
| 4. Stalled (no longer working on) | 1 | 4% |
| 5. In the works (pending) | 10 | 40% |
| 6. No action | 10 | 40% |
The comforting thing about these statistics: Obama has kept more promises than he has broken. That’s a great start and quite an achievement for a politician.
So, How about the other 475 plus promises? Well, let’s look at those. As before, listed below statistically are the other promises. (note: the ones above are also included)
| The Top 25 Promises: | No./515 | Percentages: |
| 1. Promises kept | 47 | » 10% |
| 2. Compromised promise | 12 | » 2% |
| 3. Promises broken | 7 | » 1% |
| 4. Stalled (no longer working on) | 12 | » 2% |
| 5. In the works (pending) | 117 | » 25% |
| 6. No action | 320 | » 60% |
Again, he has kept more promises than he has broken. Regardless of how one may feel about him. The numbers speak for themselves. John Adams said, “Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.” So the question is, what do you think? Based on these statistics, how do you feel about the president? Write a comment below and tell me what you think.
Last 5 posts by Laura Ashley
- Obama's Fox Hunt - October 26th, 2009
- Highly Offensive - October 20th, 2009
- Support Our President: A Duty or A Danger? - October 6th, 2009
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I am confused. Is this article written as a criticism of the administration or of the person who nominated him. Obama was not even aware that he was nominated and was surprised when he won AND is donating the award money to charity. I believe this should be written towards the Nobel committee. By the way, in accordance with the procedure, the person who nominated Obama is kept secret for 50 years. I agree that he shouldn’t have won, but I think it is irrelevant to talk about it.
sometimes during campaigns when these guys are making their promises, i think of the kids in school that used to say they were going to put coke in the water fountains during their campaigns for student office (thats how ridiculous they sound at times). It seems that at least some of these promises that are made arent genuine, because the candidates are fully aware that they cannot keep these promises on their own. they are at the will, in many cases, of the congress, or even the supreme court, and let us not forget public opinion polls. Having said that, obama does have four years to get the coke in the water fountains, not one. But, being a politician generally means that you are rarely completely honest (sad, but true), so I dont see him being able to follow through on everything he’s said he would do, not necessarily because he wont try, but because he will not be able to make all these things happen on his own. but, there is not alot of motivation for any president to follow through on campaign promises having already won the job.
I believe thats for you to decide
Jason I couldn’t agree with you more. Some of the things that are promised by ALL politicians during campaigns are, at best, absurd. Almost every politician promises lower taxes while increasing spending…somehow.
I think it is really good that only 7 of 515 of promises have been broken (1%). That seems really low for a politician. Granted, it’s early. It’s obvious that Obama is focused on Healthcare right now, and that has taken up a lot of his time and effort. Obama does have another 3-7 years to fulfill his other promises, so I guess it remains to be seen if he can keep his promises.
Hey guys! Great comments so far.
Jason you bring up a great point: “I don’t see him being able to follow through on everything he’s said.”
I agree with you, I don’t expect him to accomplish everything either, mostly because one congress may not let him, two he may have more important priorities or three its just not possible. Obama has only been in office for barely a year and the fact that he has more promises kept than broken is a very admirable accomplishment! I’m really pleased to see that. I admire the fact that he’s trying.
To the commenter above about being confused. I apologize if the article was confusing for you. The article with neither meant to criticize nor support the administration. And Yes Matt, you hit the nail on the head. I wanted the readers to tell me how they felt based on the statistics…not vice versa.
Often times I feel like the Media is always telling us what to think it’s hard to truly understand how people really feel sometimes. …So I really wanted to provide the opportunity to hear from the people not the press.
OK, I’m frustrated right now, because I feel like this “Every politician promises things they can’t deliver” statement by Jason is such a criticism of election process in America yet during this election people pulled the same type of argument to vote for a given candidate. Let me follow this logic, so every politician promises and under-delivers. therefore, we must also, by voting for them, under mine our own principles? I’m sorry if it seems I’m frustrated with YOU Jason, It’s actually just something I have been frustrated about since before the primaries.
The point is, yes we will never be 100% happy with any candadite, but if you have to justify choosing a candidate who doesn’t value personal responsibility or don’t say you can do something if you can’t, Then what does that say about America’s view on personal responsibility? Not to mention, the candidates.
This observation leads me to wonder, what really an accomplishment for a president while in office? What can he promise to do that no other candidate can? The answer right now is simple. A good president in my mind is one that says, “I’m not here to tell you what to do, make laws that inhibit your freedoms or wage unneeded wars. I am here to protect your right to live, liberty and pursuit of happiness from external forces and from government powers themselves” The way I see the presidency is an office of service; the blessing of a the burden of making executive decisions that don’t encroach on the congresses or judicial powers.
Also, I go into more detail about the Nobel Peace Prize here: http://www.fantasticusblog.com/2009/10/barack-obama-gets-a-piece-of-the-prize-the-nobel-peace-prize-yawn/
My whole point is that the president winning the nobel peace price has absolutely zero relevance to any of his accomplishments or campaign promises domestically. I encourage you to read the Associated Press article which interviews the Nobel Committee justifying the award.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_NOBEL_PEACE_OBAMA?SITE=ORLAG&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
I’m not saying “Don’t Vote!” or anything like that … I am saying that I have a hard time finding a candidate for public office that I feel will justly represent the majority of Americans. No single candidate will ever be able to represent the entire public as there are far too many ideologies that exist in this country – and that is a good thing. Having said that, every politician seems to think that he or she can appeal to every single person all at once.
America is united by the allowance of individual differences: of each personal being allowed an unique identity. That’s right, we are united as one because of our differences. The whole two party system simply just divides American voters into two distinct categories, when if we were honest with ourselves our personal beliefs end up with factions of both conservatism and liberalism as well as many other ideologies. But a small faction of America has now become obsessed with fighting the two party system regardless of the candidate that an individual ends up supporting. The voter needs to find what is important to him/her. Whether that be nationalized healthcare of a Christian belief system. The candidate needs to stick to his OWN ideologies and stop trying to appease everyone which, as we showed earlier, is impossible. It’s not the system that is messed up, of people voting for a respective candidate through “parties.” It’s the people that are messed up.
to the comment above Kris
I understand how you feel, but winning a Nobel Peace Prize is an accomplishment nontheless, don’t you think? Now, whether or not it has anything to do with his presidency is a completely different story.
And I did read the article. I felt like it didn’t really help their cause…but that’s just my opinion.
“The candidate needs to stick to his OWN ideologies and stop trying to appease everyone which, as we showed earlier, is impossible. It’s not the system that is messed up, of people voting for a respective candidate through “parties.” It’s the people that are messed up.”
Well said Kris. I think we all can learn something from that.
How many of us in our daily lives make promises we don’t end up keeping. (i.e New Year’s Resolutions)
How many of us say things in our daily lives just to appease others. You bring up an interesting question regarding the motivations of human desires. “Well done,sir.”
so if i’m wrong and that is an unfair criticism of our election process david, show me the candidate that became the president who followed through on all of his promises.
btw laura, i love the pic of the first couple you have up there. even if yall arent fans of the prez, gotta admit the pic is good…c’mon.
haha yeah I LOVE that pic. I don’t know how to describe this via text, but I imagine them both making the “blowing up sound” as their hands leave each other. haha Do you know what I’m talking about Jason? The pound and explode handshake.
Winning the ward is an accomplishment, but I think this has nothing to do with anything Obama has said or any policy. He won it simply for the little things he has done to create more peace in the world. He didn’t nominate himself nor does he think he deserves it yet AND he is donating the money. I think he won the award because he has done the most for peace in the world over the others nominated. This is the only requirement to win. I think that there are others who deserved it more for 2008, but they weren’t nominated.
Jason,
I don’t think it was unfair to criticize our election process at all. I think I may have not been clear. what frustrates me is that, like Kris said (forgive if I mis-summarize), people stand MORE for a candidate than for their own principles. I don’t even understand the necessity of having a party, except to help someone get elected by diluting their beliefs and appealing to more people. IN THIS CASE, I feel Obama and McCain we’re mirror images of stepping toward more government control. SO, if we have the insight as average citizens to know the president cannot fulfill his promises, than shouldn’t a good candidate run on that? I think the truth is, people are just not informed enough to recognize a good president.
and Its not that I think any politician is completely honest, but I think we should expect them to be regardless. like the new years resolution example, what if Obama said, “starting this new year I am going to grow government, raise taxes, and keep fighting the war”. Maybe I could actually trust what he was doing. Anyone that is shrewd and misleading is not a good pick for president, NO MATTER the party.
to A,
What has Obama done to bring peace to the world? I agree with you on the process of nomination.
David.
There are minor things that he has done to start peace the peace process on a few separate issues. However, the award is given to the nominee who has done the most. Of the 5 nominated, Obama has done the most. It was just a pretty poor year on the grounds of global peace. The other presidential winners were also nominated for things that you would not assume. Woodrow Wilson for starting the League of Nations (now UN) and Teddy Roosevelt for negotiating the end of the Russo-Japanese war. Both of these accomplishments are minimal in noteworthy compared to the greatness of each. However, the criteria of the award still stood “who of those nominated has done the most for peace this year” If you disagree, tell me which of the other nominees would you have voted and why.
A,
I’d like to refer you to my article I wrote last week. I think it will help describe my position. I referenced it up in an earlier comment. I pointed out some people that have one that I felt ‘more or less’ deserved it. One not so minor detail about Obama, is that he wants to send more troops to Afghanistan. Forget the current war for a minute and I’d like to ask, do you think it is EVER peaceful to send troops in to a country?
IF YOU PAY ATTENTION TO THE PRES, HE PROMISES JUST ABOUT ANYTHING TO EVERYBODY. HE WILL PROMISE COAL MINERS IN PA THAT THEY WILL NOT LOSE THEIR JOBS, AND THEN A WEEK LATER PROMISE SOMEONE IN SAN FRANCISCO THAT THE COAL MINES WILL BE SHUT DOWN. OBAMA IS NOT EVEN OUT FOR THE DEMOCRAT PARTY. HE IS OUT FOR HIMSELF. HE THINKS HE IS THE CHOSEN ONE. HE WILL NOT STOP PROMOTING HIMSELF UNTIL HE IS KING OF THE WORLD. THE FACT THAT HE KEPT MORE PROMISES THAN HE BROKE, JUST SHOWS THE WAY HE CHOSE TO KEEP SOME AND HAD MORE NO ACTION ON ONES HE DIDNT WANT TO KEEP. ITS A FALSE PREMISE. YES NUMBERS CAN LIE. TRUST ME, IM A MATHEMATICIAN.