Is The "Hopey, Changey Thing" Working Out ?

One of Sarah Palin's favorite lines when she gives a speech is "How's that hopey, changey thing workin' out for ya?" Of course she is referring to President Obama's campaign promises to bring hope back to the American people and change the course of our country to make a better tomorrow for all citizens. Her implication in asking the question in that disrespectful way is that the president is failing in his efforts to bring hope and change.

But is that really true? Is President Obama failing to live up to his campaign promises? Not according to my blogger friend Adam over at Zero Energy Construction. He says the "hopey, changey thing" is working out very well, thank you (and I agree with him). To prove his point, he posts a long list of President Obama's accomplishments after just over a year in office. Here is that list:

Passed Healthcare Reform (ending preexisting conditions, giving small business subsidies for providing insurance, Creating 3.2M HC-related jobs over the next 10 years, closing the medicare donut hole in drug coverage, ensuring coverage for all kids up till the age of 26, covering 32 million americans, expanding medicaid to cover the rest, all while cutting the national debt by a 100 billion dollars) - Check.

Signed into law Tax Cuts for all middle income families, and 95% of all Americans - Check

Signed an Arms control agreement with Russia to dismantle nuclear weapons - Check

Reauthorized SCHIP to cover all Children - Check

Saved the entire stock market from collapsing (from a low point of a dow of 6000 within a month of Obama taking office, to close to 11,000 just an year later, basically preventing millions of retirement accounts from getting wiped out) - Check

Ended the ban on travel for people with HIV - Check

Stopped the dismissals of homosexual individuals serving in the military by the Pentagon (It's the first step to dismantling DA,DT completely) - Check

Ended the federal crackdown on Medicinal Marijuana centers in CA - Check

Passed into law Mortgage Fraud Protections - Check

Ended the ban on Stem Cell Research - Check

Passed Student Loan Reform, and Used The Savings to Significantly Increase Financial Aid Loans and Grants - Check

Engaged in diplomatic dialogue with Middle Eastern countries, instead of using language like "Axis of Evil" that achieves nothing other than to piss them off some more. - Check

Passed Credit Card Reform (Minimizing Predatory Lending, Making the terms of credit cards clear, eliminating arbitrary rate increases) - Check

Since the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, have had the new job loss numbers from their peak right as Obama took office, go down steadily month after month, every single month like clockwork to the point that finally, this month is going to have job growth in the six figures (a trend expected to accelerate this whole year) - Check

Reversed the ban on sending foreign aid to countries with legal abortions (The Mexico City Policy) - Check

Signed the Expanded Hate Crimes Bill - Check

Helped stem down employment discrimination by passing the Lilly Ledbetter Act - Check

Extended Unemployment Benefit, helping millions of Americans stave off bankrupcy until the economy recovers - Check

Drew down troops in Iraq for a 2011 withdrawl date - Check

Drew down Gitmo detainees and making prepartations to close it by 2011 - Check

Increased the forces in Afganistan and brought to justice 500+ major Al Queda senior leaders in the past year (more than the Bush Administration brought in all eight years combined) - Check

Saved the entire US Auto Industry (GM and Chrysler) from going bankrupt thus preventing dozens of major factories and hundreds of dealerships from closing their doors - Check

Saved banks from going bankrupt to the point that they're profitable again and have now paid back all of government loans and bailout funds in full and with interest - Check

Signed into law, new mileage and emissions standard for cars and suvs - Check

Working on Education Reform and Financial Regulatory Reform so banks can't pull this crap again - The very next thing on his list

Now I won't try to tell you that I've agreed with the president on everything, because I haven't. I think he should have already pulled our troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan, and I would have liked to see a provision for a public option in the health care reform package. But I still think the president has done a good job in his short time in office -- much better than our last president did in his entire eight years.

So I guess I'd have to say the "hopey, changey thing" is working out very well so far, and I think it'll get even better in the future. It feels good to have a president that accomplishes what he promised, and that I can be proud of. Really good.