Obama’s first 365 days: Ronald Reagan Part Deux | Eastern North Carolina Now

     I need you to close your eyes for a minute and have someone read the following passage to you: riding into Washington with an agenda of changing the way government handles itself, this larger-than-life charismatic figure storms into our nations capital with a monumental task of not only restoring an economy on the brink of disaster, but resurrecting the American image in the eyes of the world, and rejuvenating American citizens with a clear message and promise that “things will be different”.

     As you open your eyes, be honest and ask yourself: Was he talking about Barack Obama or Ronald Reagan? The juxtaposition of these two names may make supporters of either man a bit unnerved. However, if you look at the trajectory of the first year of both administrations, you cannot help but notice some very similar patterns. Both administrations were given daunting tasks of reforming the paradigm from which government is both perceived and structured.

    From a starting point of both national malaise and economic discontent, both the Reagan and Obama era’s were ushered in with unrealistically high expectations that their agenda would turn the American psyche and, more importantly, the American economy in the right direction in short order.

    If you were to look at the events of 1981 and 2009 and how each administration was perceived through polling data, there is an almost mirror image to both the Reagan and Obama administrations.

    Riding the wave of anti-government distrust by the American people, Ronald Reagan’s approval ratings from January of 1981- January of 1982 plummeted due to raised expectations from the campaign of 1980, rising unemployment figures, and an economy that never gained any real momentum from the beginning to the end of 1981.

    The Obama administration has seen the populist sentiment that ushered him and many Democrats into office fade precipitously due to a perception of political impotence on the part of Congressional and White House leadership and an economy that has rebounded for investors but not for unemployment figures.

    You will quickly learn as time goes on in this forum that I am not a leading advocate of what the Reagan era left for historians to examine. However, I would be rather foolish and naïve not to understand that at the time of his election he was exactly what the country needed. His exhortation to “stay the course” with his overall agenda in the midst of very biting criticism and declining popularity suggest a political will that this current administration should take some lessons on.

    Hindsight being what it is, if President Reagan were given a grade after the first full year in office, he would have received an overall incomplete. No president has the ability to steer the American ship in a particular direction that quickly. However, if you plan on writing off the Obama administration as a “one hit wonder”, I’d advise you to wait and see how the economy pans out. If the unemployment rate falls at all over the summer, you can expect a long term reign of Democratic control for the foreseeable future.

     I just hope the music of the next few years isn’t as bad as it was back then.