I told my friend, Phil, about the Post-Crescent comment I'd made to the question: "What do you think of Obama's first 100 days."  I suggested to him that he could post a comment as well since we generally have our comments posted in the same Reader Reaction Forum group in the P-C.  Not that I agree with him, you understand; but he's a lively writer and goes toe-to-toe with me on occasion.

He replied via email a couple of times and I asked if I could post his remarks on this blog.  He consented, reluctantly, but he consented.  So herewith the first comment:

I read something akin to this by Wayne Allyn Root, whom I happen to think, has a couple of screws loose. This whole 100 days thing started with Roosevelt, of course. Everything looked bleak, and it was a toss up whether capitalism (or democracy) itself would survive. Roosevelt introduced bill after bill and, after 100 days , the psychological mood of the country did change. I don’t think even revisionists can alter this fact; indeed, that’s why subsequent president’s had to face that same scrutiny- despite the absence of a country in crisis. Therefore, the first 100 days of Nixon, Ford, Clinton, Bush, Carter, Johnson, or Kennedy simply don’t compare. It’s an artificial yardstick. HOWEVER, Obama inherited a crisis that comes uncomfortably close to the uncertainty and fear that marked 1933. Bush and Paulson weren’t being hyperbolic; the financial SYTSEM was teetering on the verge of collapse. And that’s the entrée they handed Obama. There were no big players left; only the government--much as it was in 1933. And now, like then, the mood of the country was (and is) that while they don’t understand it, they know that the problem in the economy is not the usual fare of recessions, or inflation, or market declines—this, most people understood was dangerous, and “something had to be done”. We were heading for a cliff, and we were all in the backseat screaming. Government was the only one left who could drive; it’s that simple.

His (Obama’s ) challenges  are Herculean and moving with speed and deliberateness to stop the termites from eating away at our foundation seems the logical place to go before shoring up, or cosmetic approaches.  Wal-Mart is big, but it is not “big business”; they are not big oil, or big pharmaceuticals (who already bought a million dollar add buy to fight healthcare reform)....

And Phil's second comment:

[T]his whole notion of gauging a President’s first few months is an artificial barometer. What has been making Obamas’ first 100 days even remotely interesting is that he has hit the ground running and managed to confound the racists and bigots masquerading as conservatives.

I was a young guy in the 1960 election but recall the same tired rhetoric. In fact, on the very day Kennedy was assassinated the John Birch Society ran a huge ad (with a black border no less) in the Dallas News calling Kennedy a communist and a threat to American Democracy. The Republican Dixiecrats now more or less married to, and in tandem with  the religious right, demonize this  president. He’s their nightmare, a smart black guy.

The wackjobs have come out in force, but have offered no alternatives other than tax reductions (which everyone loves) albeit for the rich, and the end of corporate income taxes, which in this global economy would give large corporations more mechanisms to avoid oversight. Personally, I don’t think “big business” is the enemy, and WalMart certainly isn’t. But Wal- Mart, as big as it is, probably doesn’t have legions of lobbyists on its payroll and can’t influence lawmakers with the same focus as big oil, or the insurance industry.

During the Bush era, big business and wall street ran the show. Had Bush had his way, and social security privatized, millions of us would be broke now. Excess and greed just can not be separated from most human endeavors that involve power and money. Many regulations are tedious and expensive, and some redundant and stupid. But our history has shown what happens when you let these people go unchecked. Hell, that’s why we regulated Railroads in the first place, and then started regulating meat packing companies. Can you imagine what you would be eating if there was no government oversight? Salmonella, anyone?

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