100 days of Change: Highlights from the Obama Administration so far

With Obama’s first 100 days behind him, I thought I would look at some of things that done so far to erase the mistakes of the past 8 years.

Closing Down Gitmo
President Obama went a long way in reversing the gross miscarriages of justice perpetrated under the Bush administration but setting forth a timetable for the closing of Gitmo, ending the use of torture by the US, and by releasing the torture memos. The jury, however, is still out when it comes to the issue of prosecuting those who ordered and carried out the actions.

Rescinding The “Global Gag Rule”
While this policy has been a bit of a ping-pong ball between Republican and Democrat administrations, Obama didn’t waist much time and rescinded the policy on January 23rd. For those unaware, the “Global Gag Rule” is a policy that in order for NGOs to receive foreign aid from the US, they can’t perform, or even promote abortion as an option.

Removing ban on embryonic stem cell research
One of the things that really disturbed me about the Bush administration was the politicizing of science. Political appointees managed to edit and censor findings that disagreed with government policy (especially with respect to climate change). Obama took steps towards reversing the “war on science”. By eliminating the federal ban on embryonic Stem Cell research

Warming up to Cuba
Obama has also loosened travel restrictions to Cuba, allowing Cuban-Americans to travel to the country. I mentioned in my post about the MEC-Israel affair that I really don’t believe embargos or boycotts like these really work in changing governments (as evident by Castro’s longevity) but rather only hurt the citizens of the country. I’ll be even happier if Obama extends this action to lifting the embargo altogether.

The Environment
Finally, there has been some movement on the environment. As part of the recent stimulus package there was a substantial level of funding for green initiatives such as mass transit, smart grids, initiatives to homeowners for green retrofitting, and renewable energy. Hopefully, more comprehensive environmental plans will come down the pipes.

Given that it's a fairly arbitrary metric for measuring the success of a presidency, I’ve been fairly pleased with Obama’s first 100 days. Ultimately, the guy is human, and he must govern in the interest of all his citizens (even those who didn’t vote for him), so while I really wasn’t expecting the earth shattering changes some were predicting. He’s made a lot of progress, but it remains to be seen what else his administration has in mind.

So what did President George W Bush do in his first 100 days? Among other things (and aside from putting the “gag rule” back in place), he created the “White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives”, rejected the Kyoto protocol, and signed the controversial “No Child Left Behind” act. So maybe there's something to the "100 day measure" after all.