First Week

So, we are coming to the conclusion of President Obama's first week and I must say that it has been an eventful one. He has had to very quickly show what he is made of and I think he has done a fairly decent job. I do think there have been some newcomer errors and I think some of those need to be addressed. One of the first errors that I think he made was directly addressing Rush Limbaugh on one day and Fox news on another day. As a President you need to really be careful how you address those that critique you. Calling direct names and going after a section of the media is never a good move. Fox news is a network that has the time and energy to focus on all things they deem negative and they will do it with a vengeance if baited. Obama also came out on Wednesday and directly addressed the respective governments in the DC area about their quick closures of schools. Now, I am not going to debate if I agree with this statement or not but once again, the comment came across as a bit condescending.

Now, there have been some things that President Obama has done this week that I think is his way of starting things fresh in DC. He has really been on mission to get this new stimulus package passed. He keeps pushing that he wants bipartisan support and is going out of his way to get it. Just on Wednesday night, the same evening after not one Republican voted for his stimulus plan, he had a cocktail party at the White House for both Republican and Democratic party leaders. This is my opinion is a very gutsy move, and it shows that he is willing to go outside the box. President Obama also this week went on Arab TV to attempt to make amends with the muslim world. Now, I am fully aware that this is going to be a long journey in reconciliation, but for a new president to do this early in his administration is very telling of how things are going to go.

Hopefully Obama will sit down with his advisors this weekend and really analyze his first week and weigh out the positives and the negatives. I think he had a fairly strong showing, but he needs to save his sound bites for the major issues at his hand. Let his press secretary be the one to make comments on individuals. He needs to remember that he is not campaigning for a position, he is leading a country.