A List of What’s Changed

Today someone said, “What exactly has ‘Changed’ under Obama? The rich get bailouts, torture goes unprosecuted, AIPAC decides the fate Of Iran, and Democrats are still silent accomplices in Bush-era war crimes.”

I hear questions like these a lot; as we get deeper into Obama’s presidency, people get antsy for news of improvement, as they expect swift course correction. Though improvements are being made, these people are let down because they don’t realize the sheer size of our the world’s complexity, and the gears of change take longer than 100 days to enact. But for those keeping score, here are the improvements that were made in Obama’s first 100 days, which has happened with unprecedented speed:

Obama has reversed restrictions on stem cell research, appointed an assistant to the president for science and technology policy, created a foreclosure prevention fund for homeowners, expanded loan programs for small businesses, extended and indexed the 2007 Alternative Minimum Tax patch, expanded eligibility for State Children’s Health Insurance Fund (SCHIP), expanded funding to train primary care providers and public health practitioners, directed military leaders to end war in Iraq, sent two additional brigades to Afghanistan, as promised gave a speech at a major Islamic forum in the first 100 days of his administration, granted Americans unrestricted rights to visit family and send money to Cuba, restored funding for the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (Byrne/JAG) program, released presidential records, now requires new hires to sign a form affirming their hiring was not due to political affiliation or contributions, pushed for enactment of Matthew Shepard Act, which expands hate crime law to include sexual orientation and other factors, created a White House Office on Urban Policy, supported increased funding for the NEA, funded a major expansion of AmeriCorps, worked to overturn Ledbetter vs. Goodyear, banned lobbyist gifts to executive employees, pledged to weatherize 1 million homes per year, invested in all types of alternative energy, enacted tax credit for consumers for plug-in hybrid cars, provided grants to encourage energy-efficient building codes, as promised appointed at least one Republican to the cabinet, and he has extended unemployment insurance benefits and temporarily suspended taxes on these benefits.