By Patrick Cowles
Daily Titan Asst. News Editor

Students scattered the two sides of seating in the Titan Student Union’s Pavilion A the night of Nov. 4. Some sat with glazed eyes while many more listened intently taking notes. A year after Obama won the presidential election, these students sat still, lingering for answers on how well he has done thus far.

The Associate Student Inc. Lobby Corps hosted, “Obama One Year Later,” in which a panel of political science and sociology professors fielded questions from the audience and peppered those attending with insightful commentary and critique.

Gregory Washington, 19, a political science and speech communications major, proposed the event because of the buzz around campus after Obama’s election last November.

“I felt like it would be appropriate for the time,” Washington said.

The panel consisted of Phillip Gianos and Stephen Stambough, professors of political science and criminal justice, Jack Bedell, professor of sociology, and Matthew Jarvis, professor of political science.

(From left) ASI Chief Governmental Officer Gregory Washington, Dr. Phillip Gianos, Dr. Jack Bedell, Dr. Stephen Stambough, and Dr. Matthew Jarvis host a panel on President Obama's first year in office at the TSU pavilion on Wednesday, November 4, 2009. Photo by Ron Fu/Daily Titan Staff Photographer

The event opened with the four professors grading Obama’s first year in office. Obama’s grades ranged from a “B” to an incomplete, as each professor cited his successes and failures.

Stambough gave Obama a “B” in foreign policy because he “told people what he was going to do.” Obama campaigned on being multinational and more diplomatically driven than the latest Bush administration, he said.

Stambough said Obama’s speech in Cairo titled “New Beginning” is the highlight of his foreign policy that American’s do not talk enough about. The speech set Obama’s tone for working with, rather than against, the Muslim world toward peace.

Jarvis believed the transition from Bush to Obama went “pretty well;” however, he said that Obama’s administration lost momentum over the summer. After an impressive start speedily passing a stimulus package, Jarvis believed the administration lost their way with the vacation season while focusing on “silver bullet” solutions for complex issues, such as health care and the environment. Due to these facts, Jarvis gave Obama an incomplete, fearing that projects not turned in on time may never be turned in.

After the grading session, Washington, chair of the ASI Lobby Corps and ASI’s chief governmental officer, opened the floor to the audience.

“We filled up the almost two hours with questions,” Washington said. “And the follow-up questions (were) a mark of success; a self-sustaining event is wonderful.”

David Armstrong, 23, a political science major and criminal justice minor, decided to attend the event after seeing similar discussions on Bill O’Reilly’s show and the Chris Matthews show regarding Obama’s first year.
Armstrong took the initiative when Washington opened the floor to the audience for questions, eventually asking the panel three questions.

David Armstrong, 23, has several questions for the panel about President Obama's first year in office at the TSU pavilion on Wednesday, November 4, 2009. By Ron Fu/Daily Titan Staff Photographer

After the event, Armstrong said in regards to Obama and his first year, “When it comes down to leading, he’s lacking.”

“I don’t think he has power,” Armstrong said, “for the things he was elected to do (are) still the same.”

In response to one of Armstrong’s questions regarding TV news, Gianos warned those attending to beware of the “succession of plausible narratives” that arise from a TV show that is not political analysis. The common sense interpretations offered by TV news are usually premature, Gianos said, offering insight on a topic without yet knowing all the factors involved.

“They may not be correct,” Gianos said. “(But) they’re not outlandishly stupid either.”

However, the resounding sentiment expressed by the questions asked involved what has become the difference between Obama’s campaign and Obama’s governance.

Stambough said the difference between the two is a result of the governmental system and the situations that arise during a presidency.

Stambough said that while campaigning, candidates “go around talking about all the things (they) want to do, (while governing), (then they) realize that’s all changed, and things take a long time.” For example, former President Clinton and his “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy; although he campaigned on the issue in 1992, it did not become law until well into 1993.

Many Americans have expected Obama to pass much of what he campaigned on within his first year, Stambough said, “based upon how government works that’s absolutely impossible.”

“The system is designed to go slow,” Jarvis said.

There are two major reasons for this.

Gianos said the big background issue is the Constitution.

“It’s supposed to slow things down and works very well to do that,” Gianos said. “It’s supposed to encourage deliberation and consensus.”

For Bedell, the career people in Washington, especially the Caucus people on the Hill, are “so entrenched in many ways” that pushing legislation through the system is impossible based upon their workload and agendas. “You can only move so fast,” Bedell said.

These might not be failures for Obama, but rather a cultural sentiment that has failed America.

Bedell said it is the “now” culture that must be patient with change.

“We need to be more patient as a culture,” Bedell said, “because (now) just doesn’t work that way,” for our bureaucracy.

However, the panelists remained optimistic that over the next few years Obama will accomplish much more.

Gianos believed although his presidency has taken an ambitious start, Obama’s deep strategic sense has made it a good start. Gianos said health care must remain his top priority.

Bedell hopes to see Obama take a stance on education by cleaning up “No Child Left Behind.”

Stambough believed two things will make or break his presidency: health care by 2010 (which passed in the House on Nov. 7) and a direction for Afghanistan as soon as possible.

Stambough said, “They might be trying to do too much, as opposed to doing too little too slowly.”

Jarvis believed that Obama has attempted to solve the issues he has worked on with “silver bullets” focusing on one cause for a problem rather than all the causes.

“The world is more complex than a single solution,” Jarvis said. He would like to see Obama’s administration apply multiple solutions for the problems he addresses.

Armstrong wants to see Obama exert more leadership.

“He’s completely letting the party decide,” Armstrong said. “Why doesn’t he set the tone?”

Although Armstrong enjoyed the creativity of Obama’s campaign, he said he has yet to see that same creativity within the White House.

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