If President Barack Obama were a student, local leaders and politicians would give him A’s, B’s and a few Incompletes for his work during the first 100 days of his presidency.
Renowned journalist Gwen Ifill and her colleagues from “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” hosted a town hall meeting in St. Louis on Tuesday to discuss Obama’s first 100 days in office. The event was held at KETC-TV, which is the most-watched public news station in the nation.
“I thought people were very attentive. They had smart questions they had clearly thought about,” said Ifill, an award-winning senior correspondent for the NewsHour and author of The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama.
“To come out on a school night and participate in something like this, you are really engaged.”
NewsHour officials selected St. Louis to conduct the town hall meeting because Missouri “is a strong state, St. Louis is a city away from both coasts and it’s a purple state,” Ifill said, meaning that Missouri could not be classified as a Democratic or Republican state during the 2008 presidential election.
“And we need to get out of Washington to feel the effects of Obama’s first 100 days,” she said.
In his first 100 days on the job, Obama has worked to pass a $3.5 trillion budget outline for 2010. He also managed to get passed a $787 billion stimulus package that is several bills in one: the largest tax cut in history, the biggest infrastructure investment since the interstate highway system of the 1950s and the biggest investment in education in a single generation, among other things.
Ifill was joined by a panel of Democrats and Republicans, including U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay (D-Missouri), former U.S. Senator John Danforth, St. Charles Mayor Patti York and Chris Krehmeyer, president/CEO of Beyond Housing.
Clay said he would give Obama an A+.
“He has changed the trajectory of the country in a matter of 100 days,” Clay said, referring to Obama’s plan to provide healthcare to 11 million more children, the plan to infuse $187 billion into the economy and his international policy work, which includes banning torture by U.S. forces, closing Guantanamo Bay and issuing a deadline to end the war in Iraq.
Danforth gave Obama an A+ on “political style.” But Danforth also gives a low grade for Obama essentially firing General Motors’ chief executive last month. The Obama administration’s decision represents the federal government intervening in a private company’s affairs, Danforth said.
“It is important to recognize that he has really changed course for this country,” Danforth said.
“It is change in favor of the power of the federal government and the president.”
Danforth gave Obama an Incomplete on national security and the economy.
“It’s wonderful to hear about the spending. But it’s also doubling the national debt in five years,” Danforth said. “How about our children and our grandchildren? What will we be leaving them?”
Clay said he is confident that Obama’s budget and stimulus package eventually will result in a strong economy, improved educational systems and job creation that will lead to a positive future for coming generations.
Clay said stimulus funding will help the St. Louis Public Schools system by assisting low-income children, increasing the energy efficiency of school buildings and paying to remove lead paint from schools.
Krehmeyer said he is hopeful for the outcome of Obama’s efforts, but organizations and businesses must be wise in how they use the money scheduled to be distributed. He said officials must focus on people rather than projects.
“The key for us in the trenches is that people have been suffering,” Krehmeyer said.
He said Obama’s message has been that “neighborhoods should not suffer under the weight of poverty and foreclosure. And if that takes government to do it, so be it.”
The event was held on the eve of Obama’s 100th day in office, which was Wednesday. On his 100th day as president, Obama came to Missouri to host his own town hall meeting in Arnold. NewsHour had decided to visit Missouri before Obama decided to do the same, Ifill said.
Ifill and her colleagues were in the St. Louis metropolitan area for two weeks compiling information about the impact of Obama’s first 100 days as the nation’s president.
They traveled to St. Charles, Belleville and St. Louis to gather information.
The nationally syndicated news show hosted five town hall meetings. Their observations were featured in “Spotlight City” segments that aired nationally on the NewsHour on April 27, 28 and 29.
All of the NewsHour-related activities recorded by Channel 9 will be compiled in a special that will air in June and be offered to viewers in a DVD set.
