NOTE: Yes, I posted this yesterday as well; starting today, the Obameter Update will be posted on Tuesdays instead of Mondays in order to track President Obama's weeks in office more accurately (he took office on a Tuesday, after all). Call me anal about this, I know...
DIGG it up!!
This is now a weekly update of the original diary on the same subject.
OK, I have no idea whether the St. Petersburg Times trends progressive, conservative, neutral or whatever, so I can't say how biased/unbiased this is.
What I can say is that it's a pretty cool concept!
The Obameter: Tracking Obama's Campaign Promises
PolitiFact has compiled about 500 promises that Barack Obama made during the campaign and is tracking their progress on our Obameter. We rate their status as No Action, In the Works or Stalled. Once we find action is completed, we rate them Promise Kept, Compromise or Promise Broken.
So, in the first 12 weeks of Obama's presidency (5.75%**), according to PolitiFact, Obama has already fully kept 24 promises, has 64 others in the works, and has compromised on 7. PolitiFact also claims that he's broken 5 promises (more on this below).
If you give him 1/2 point for promises "In the Works", "Stalled" or "Compromises", that means he's kept 11.72% of his campaign promises to date (60 out of 515).
If you're generous and count serious progress ("In the Works") as a promise kept, the score jumps up to 91.5, or 17.87%.
*Up until today, I used the "generous" score above in my weekly titles, as a sign of high confidence in Obama. Starting today, given the disappointing/disturbing trends I'm seeing from his administration on issues such as state secrets/prisoner detention, I'm taking a more rational and less "cheerleadery" position by leading with the "stingy" number instead. Again, it's still pretty impressive, as the chart below demonstrates!
Finally, for the sourpusses amongst you, I've added a third graph to the chart for the purists: If you want to be an absolute stickler, counting only those promises that have been absolutely and completely kept to the letter (and not counting anything else at all), I'm afraid he's actually a bit behind the curve, at 25 (4.9%).
**I should also mention that for purposes of this chart, I'm assuming that Obama was referring to his first term in office for all of these promises. Of course, in most cases he only promised to do these things "when he was President" which will hopefully give him an additional 4 years to check them off the list. I've added a second "% of Term" line to reflect a full 8-year term as well.
For those who don't want to read the whole thing, here's their current tally:
(Note: Bold = Newly added this week)
PROMISES ALREADY KEPT:
No. 15: Create a foreclosure prevention fund for homeowners
No. 36: Expand loan programs for small businesses
No. 40: Extend and index the 2007 Alternative Minimum Tax patch
No. 58: Expand eligibility for State Children's Health Insurance Fund (SCHIP)
No. 76: Expand funding to train primary care providers and public health practitioners
No. 125: Direct military leaders to end war in Iraq
No. 134: Send two additional brigades to Afghanistan
No. 174: Give a speech at a major Islamic forum in the first 100 days of his administration
No. 222: Grant Americans unrestricted rights to visit family and send money to Cuba
No. 224: Restore funding for the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (Byrne/JAG) program
No. 239: Release presidential records
No. 241: Require new hires to sign a form affirming their hiring was not due to political affiliation or contributions.
No. 278: Remove more brush, small trees and vegetation that fuel wildfires
No. 307: Create a White House Office on Urban Policy
No. 327: Support increased funding for the NEA
No. 411: Work to overturn Ledbetter vs. Goodyear
No. 427: Ban lobbyist gifts to executive employees
No. 452: Weatherize 1 million homes per year
No. 458: Invest in all types of alternative energy
No. 459: Enact tax credit for consumers for plug-in hybrid cars
No. 480: Support high-speed rail
No. 502: Get his daughters a puppy
No. 503: Appoint at least one Republican to the cabinet
No. 507: Extend unemployment insurance benefits and temporarily suspend taxes on these benefits
No. 513: Reverse restrictions on stem cell research
PROMISES COMPROMISED ON:
No. 3: Eliminate capital gains taxes for small businesses and start-ups
No. 5: Expand the earned income tax credit
No. 32: Create a tax credit of $500 for workers
No. 257: Create the American Opportunity Tax Credit to offset college costs
No. 434: Set a three-month moratorium on foreclosures
No. 512: Go "line by line" over earmarks to make sure money being spent wisely
No. 515: No family making less than $250,000 will see "any form of tax increase."
STALLED (by others):
No. 24: End income tax for seniors making less than $50,000
No. 293: Call for repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy
No. 446: Enact windfall profits tax for oil companies
IN THE WORKS:
No. 1: Increase the capital gains and dividends taxes for higher-income taxpayers
No. 2: Eliminate all oil and gas tax loopholes
No. 4: Extend child tax credits and marriage-penalty fixes
No. 21: Require automatic enrollment in 401(k) plans
No. 22: Require automatic enrollment in IRA plans
No. 27: Change standards for determining broadband access
No. 31: Create a $60 billion bank to fund roads and bridges
No. 37: Extend the Bush tax cuts for lower incomes
No. 38: Repeal the Bush tax cuts for higher incomes
No. 39: Phase out exemptions and deductions for higher earners
No. 59: Invest in electronic health information systems
No. 67: Implement and fund proven health intervention programs
No. 70: Eliminate the higher subsidies to Medicare Advantage plans
No. 72: Prevent drug companies from blocking generic drugs
No. 84: Double federal funding for cancer research
No. 114: Reduce the Veterans Benefits Administration claims backlog
No. 115: Institute electronic record-keeping for the Veterans Benefits Administration
No. 117: Launch a supportive services-housing program for veterans to prevent homelessness
No. 126: Begin removing combat brigades from Iraq
No. 128: Launch robust diplomatic effort with Iraq and its neighbors
No. 135: Increase the size of the Army and Marine Corps
No. 144: End the "Stop-Loss" program of forcing troops to stay in service beyond their expected commitments
No. 155: Review weapons programs
No. 159: Set standards for when the government should hire defense contractors
No. 161: End the abuse of supplemental budgets for war
No. 170: Double U.S. spending on foreign aid to $50 Billion a year by 2012
No. 171: Establish a Global Education Fund
No. 175: End the use of torture
No. 176: End the use of extreme rendition
No. 177: Close the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center
No. 178: Develop an alternative to President Bush's Military Commissions Act on handling detainees
No. 196: Extend monitoring and verification provisions of the START I Treaty
No. 203: Develop a comprehensive cyber security and response strategy
No. 218: Increase the size of the foreign service
No. 243: Expand Early Head Start and Head Start
No. 259: Reduce subsidies to private student lenders and protect student borrowers
No. 275: Expand Pell grants for low-income students
No. 286: Secure the borders
No. 306: Push for a college football playoff system
No. 313: Allow bankruptcy judges to modify terms of a home mortgage
No. 343: Improve climate change data records
No. 365: Appoint experienced disaster official to head FEMA
No. 373: Encourage community service through online outreach and social networking
No. 392: Expand broadband's reach
No. 393: Double federal funding for basic science research over 10 years
No. 405: Create White House performance team and chief performance officer
No. 407: Limit subsidies for agribusiness
No. 421: Appoint an American Indian policy adviser
No. 422: Create new financial regulations
No. 430: Pressure Sudan to end violence in Darfur
No. 439: Create 5 million "green" jobs
No. 449: Raise fuel economy standards
No. 455: Work with UN on climate change
No. 456: Create cap and trade system with interim goals to reduce global warming
No. 463: Require more energy-efficient appliances
No. 464: Reduce energy consumption in federal buildings
No. 469: Require federal fleet to be half hybrids or electrical cars
No. 476: Modernize the nation's electricity grid and use "smart grid" practices
No. 478: Modernize air traffic system
No. 514: Ensure that stem cell research is conducted ethically and with vigorous oversight
As for the campaign promises that PolitiFact claims he's broken, they would be:
No. 234: Allow five days of public comment before signing bills
No. 240: Tougher rules against revolving door for lobbyists and former officials
No. 505: Create a $3,000 tax credit for companies that add jobs officials
No. 508: Allow penalty-free hardship withdrawals from retirement accounts in 2008 and 2009
No. 511: Recognize the Armenian genocide
I'm willing to cut Obama some slack on two of these, since the 5-day period one seemed a bit unnecessary anyway, and the tax credit was one he tried hard on but which got squashed by Congress, but if I'm gonna use PolitiFact to tout his successes, I suppose I should be fair and admit a demerit for this one. They moved the other one (lobbyists/officials) from a 'compromise' to 'broken' due to "too many exceptions" being made. Of course, if Obama does stick to the 5-day policy for the rest of his term, and/or ever does get the business tax credit through, I would expect PolitiFact to list them as at least a "Compromise" at some point.
As for recognizing the Armenian Genocide, PolitiFact calls this a broken promise because Obama went out of his way to avoid referring to it as such while he was in Turkey (or on the rest of his trip overseas). If he does indeed use the term "genocide" in any public forum over the next 4-8 years, of course, this should be changed to "Promise Kept" at that point.
Note: Here's a summary of the changes to this weekly diary going forward:
- Going forward, I'll be posting this diary every TUESDAY instead of on Mondays so it will track exact weeks (since his term of office started on a Tuesday, after all). The chart has also been modified to reflect the new 7-day periods.
- Added the 2-term trendline to the chart
- Labelled the chart more clearly
- Changed title to reflect the "stingy" % kept instead of the "generous" number
- Started bold-facing the new additions to each list