ShareThisThis past week President Barack Obama completed his first one hundred days in office. Since the activist leadership of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 in the midst of the Great Depression, this time period has been regarded as a very important initial benchmark.
Immediately after taking office, FDR declared a 'bank holiday,' a euphemistic expression for temporarily shutting down financial institutions in the midst of nationwide financial collapse. Adam Cohen's superb new book 'Nothing to Fear' describes the extraordinary atmosphere of activism that swept the country during that terrible time. He notes an 'explosion of new legislation ... transformed vast swaths of American life, from banking to agriculture to public welfare.'
Roosevelt's New Deal quickly became established as a shorthand label for exceptionally expansionist government. The initial burst of legislation was followed by sustained initiatives, including Social Security and Unemployment Insurance, the Securities and Exchange Commission and many others.
Three decades later, President Lyndon B. Johnson drove hard to emulate FDR. The domestic Great Society legislation did not transform American life in the same manner as the New Deal, but did greatly expand federal involvement in race relations, education, job training, medical care and other policy areas.
During the latest first hundred days, Obama very quickly secured Congressional passage not of an extensive series of bills, but rather of concentrated and also very comprehensive economic recovery legislation. The economic stimulus package significantly expands federal involvement in the economy as well as spending and debt levels.
Yet this major legislation is not the most important dimension of the Obama presidency. As the first African-American to hold the highest national office, he has personified since his election last November passing a particularly important national milestone.
A great many observers, including informed analysts, argued that voters would not elect a black President. Obama not only has proven them wrong, but has done so in decisive manner by winning with 52.9 percent of the votes cast, the best showing for a Democratic nominee for the White House since Lyndon Johnson in 1964.
Race relations have been very challenging throughout American history. Abolition of slavery ultimately involved the Civil War, the most costly-armed conflict by far for Americans, with over six hundred thousand deaths. Eileen Mackevich, Executive Director of the Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, has just visited Carthage College. In a series of lectures as well as media interviews, she drew parallels between Lincoln and Obama.
Obama from the start of his presidential campaign has drawn similar parallels. He announced his candidacy in Springfield Illinois, the state capital and site of Lincoln's tomb and family home as well as the magnificent new Lincoln presidential library and museum. Considerable publicity attended Obama's decision to travel to Washington D.C. for the inauguration by train, following generally the same route used by Lincoln in 1861.
President Obama has praised the book 'Team of Rivals' by historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, which describes Lincoln's skill in appointing political opponents to high office. Naming Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, his principal rival for the Democratic nomination, as Secretary of State may be viewed as in this spirit. Modern presidents have generally not selected senior elected officials as Cabinet officers.
Obama's election to the White House is testimony to his great political ability and also the great expansion of racial tolerance in America. That point transcends a hundred days.
Arthur I. Cyr is Clausen Distinguished Professor at Carthage College and author of 'After the Cold War'(NYU Press and Macmillan/Palgrave). E-mail him at acyr(at)carthage.edu
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