An energized electorate inspired by a groundbreaking election and
expectations as high as Mount Everest had grown accustomed to greeting
him with spontaneous chants of "yes we can."
He promised to take
"bold, swift action" on the ailing economy and break the partisan grip
on Washington by ending what he called "petty grievances and false
promises."
"There are some who
question the scale of our ambitions, who suggest that our system cannot
tolerate too many big plans," the president told the nation during his
inaugural address in 2009. "Their memories are short, for they have
forgotten what this country has already done."
This high bar assured
there would be a very long to-do-list, and some Republicans were quick
to publicly admit they would not make his job easy.
But some political observers make the case that pushing a lot of promises was a necessity for an unproven freshman senator.
"He really needed to
prove himself to a lot of individual Democratic constituencies," said
Bill Adair, the creator and editor of PolitiFact, an online site best
known for rating the truth in campaign advertisements. "He made dozens
and dozens of small but very narrow promises."
PolitiFact evaluated 508
promises and concluded that the president has kept 37% of them,
compromised on 14% of them, has broken 16% of them, has gotten stalled
on 10% of them and 22% are still "in the works."
It's all detailed in the online site's Obameter scorecard.
One big stumble came
soon after the president took office. During an interview on the CBS
program "60 Minutes," Obama had said he intended to "close Guantanamo"
and vowed to "follow through on that."
But legal hurdles and resistance in Congress neutralized his executive order to close the detention facility within a year.
Another promise that ran into a wall on Capitol Hill was the vow to repeal Bush-era tax cuts for the very rich.
And with
homeowners trying to recover from a crippling mortgage crisis,
especially in states such as Nevada and Florida, a promised $10 billion
dollar foreclosure prevention fund never materialized.
"He made some really
sweeping promises about changing the culture of Washington, about
bringing the parties together, about being more transparent in how he
runs the White House," Adair said.
"He ran into trouble
there. There's been a real realization on the part of the White House
that some of the things he said during the 2008 campaign were just not
realistic given the way Washington really works."
The very long list goes on: No comprehensive immigration reform. No cap and trade system that regulates pollution emissions.
Some of these broken
promises provide critics with plenty of fodder to argue he has been
ineffective. But the White House views his bucket of promises as
half-full.
Health care reform. Check.
Auto industry bailout. Check.
"Don't ask don't tell," the policy that banned openly gays and lesbians from serving in the military, repealed. Check.
The Obameter Scorecard also gives the president a thumbs up on national security.
In 2008 while visiting
Jordan, the president vowed to end the war in Iraq. "My goal is to no
longer have U.S. troops engaged in combat in Iraq."
That promise was fulfilled in December.
Added to that is that
the conflict in Afghanistan is winding down and the world's most-wanted
terrorist, Osama bin Laden, is dead.
"The death of bin Laden
marks the most significant achievement to date in our nation's effort to
defeat al Qaeda" the president said as he broke the news in a hastily
arranged late-night Sunday address to the nation in May 2011.
Between now and Election
Day, it's possible other promises stuck in the works could go either
way, although campaigning has consumed much of the oxygen.
Adair said there is plenty of blame to go around.
Congress has created
some impassable barriers but at the same time, he argues other promises
were "low-hanging fruit" that the president could have accomplished
through executive action but so far hasn't delivered.
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