I don’t really have much to say about Obama’s First 100 Days.  There was some good stuff (stem cell research) and some bad stuff (bowing to that Saudi king).  All in all, it was pretty ordinary for a presidential administration, as far as I’m concerned.  Most of the entertaining moments of The First 100 Days came from The Daily Show, to be perfectly honest.

As you might guess, my expectations for the president are very low.  I’m just glad that Obama doesn’t sound like Macaulay Culkin in another Home Alone movie (one where, perhaps, Culkin is left alone at the White House).  I think Bush got a bad rap for many things that weren’t his fault, but his awkwardness as a speaker was not one of them.  Conservatives here in Virginia like to say, “I just don’t see why people think Obama’s such a great speaker,” and there is no greater indicator of partisan knee-jerk negativism.  Anyone without blinders can see that Obama’s biggest political strength is his charisma in front of a camera.

Unfortunately (for people filled with hope), there is plenty of evidence that the Obama administration is not very much different from the Bush administration, which supports my general theory that the U.S. president is largely a figurehead.  The president’s powerlessness to effect major changes further suggests that 21st century America is dominated by lobbyists and large corporations with increasingly global interests.  For example, 100 days later, we’re still in Iraq, we’re still in Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay is still open for business, Somalia is still the Wild West, Pakistan is still a powder keg and North Korea, Iran and Venezuela are still evil regimes bent on world domination.  And through it all, Americans are mainly worried about AIG executive bonuses, Oprah on Twitter and Swine Flu.  Nothing much has changed in the past 100 days.

P.S. My personal favorite Obama moment came on March 24th, in response to Ed Henry’s cliché gotcha question about why it took so long for Obama to express outrage about the AIG bonuses:  “I like to know what I’m talking about before I speak.”  Aw, snap.  I love it when presidents put the smack down on the White House press corp.