Well, the O-man has been in office for about a year now, so it's time to ask how he's doing.
Regardless of what the results of Tuesday's Massachusetts election showed, or what the polls are showing about America's opinion.
Let's deal just with hard facts, statistics easily verifiable by anyone with a little time and an internet connection.
Dow Jones Industrial Average:
January 20, 2009 close: 7,949.09
January 15, 2010 close: 10,6093.65
Unemployment (total number, 16 and older)
January 2009: 13 million
January 2010: 14.7 million
Unemployment rate:
January 2009: 7.7%
January 2010: 10.1%
Cost of economic stimulus approved by Congress: $787 Billion
Cost per job saved or created by economic stimulus, as of January 2010: $366,840
Outstanding Public Debt as of January 20, 2009: $10.6 Trillion
Outstanding Public Debt as of January 14, 2010: $12.3 Trillion
Federal spending from the financial crisis bailout fund before January 20, 2009: $296.4 Billion
Federal spending from the financial crisis bailout fund after January 20, 2009: $173 Billion
Amount of bailout funds repaid by banks and automakers as of January 15, 2010: $165 Billion
Bank failures between January 20, 2009 and January 14, 2010: 139
Number of properties that received foreclosure related notices in January 2009: 274,399
Number of properties that received foreclosure related notices in December 2009: 349,519
US Troops in Afghanistan in January 2009: 34,300
US Troops in Afghanistan as of January 12, 2010: 70,000+
US Military deaths in Afghanistan from January 2009 through January 15, 2010: 319
US Troops in iraq in January 2009: 139,500
US Troops in Iraq as of January 12, 2010: 111,000
US Military deaths in Iraq from January 2009 through January 15, 2010: 152
Appointments to top policy positions submitted to the Senate: 539
Appointments to top policy positions confirmed by the Senate: 352
Appointments in top policy positions carried over from the Bush Administration: 180
Formal news conferences: 12
Foreign countries visited: 21
States visited: 29
Visits to Camp David: 10
Vacations: 2
Draw your own conclusions.
“Leadership is the activity of influencing people to cooperate toward some goal which they come to find desirable.” --- Ordway Tead
“There is nothing so terrible as activity without insight.” --- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
