Get out your popcorn, kids, it’s political silly season yet again! As we prepare for the president’s first State of the Union address, every pundit is feverishly trying to assess how well the president is doing. Some have written off Obama already as a complete failure; others moan that he’s not doing enough. Well, in the midst of all of this, I thought I’d add my two cents, based on what I have seen during the last year.             

The first issue on everyone’s mind, then and now, is the horrible state of the economy. Bush left Obama an almost unprecedented mess, with spiraling unemployment and massive budget deficits. To help, Obama signed a $787 billion stimulus. It has largely done its job. Although unemployment has risen, the number of new jobless claims has decreased almost every month since Obama took office. The stock market has made a massive recovery, and bailout money to the nation’s major banks is in the process of being repaid.  Gross domestic product, essentially a measure of how well we’re doing economically, jumped by 3.5 percent last quarter for the first time in months. The recently announced Volcker Rule would break the bond between banks and investment houses, preventing firms from becoming “too big to fail.” Overall, progress has been made. However, the 85,000 jobs lost in December means we still have a long way to go.             

Next on Obama’s agenda is to provide health care reform to the 47 million Americans who don’t have health insurance. Changing the health care system has dominated political debate in this country since the summer. Liberals say we aren’t doing enough, while conservatives cry socialism, communism, or whatever other –ism they can find. Despite the noise, Congress and the President have gotten closer to changing health care than their predecessors. The last time our leaders tried to do this under President Clinton, the bill didn’t even get to the floor. Now each house of Congress has passed a health reform measure. I admit that these are not perfect proposals, and the fate of reform has been thrown into question by the recent election of a Republican in Massachusetts. Still, I have confidence that a compromise will be adopted. Either the House will support the Senate bill, or the bills will be reconciled and attached to a budget measure, or the legislation will be passed in separate pieces.

The other major policy point debated in the past year has been what to do about Afghanistan. Obama made it very clear during the campaign and as President that he favors a troop increase. But he also stipulated that he would be careful in reviewing his options. So far the President has shown great caution in coming to a consensus about Afghanistan. Following the irresponsibility of the Bush Administration, it’s wonderful to see Obama making an informed decision about Afghanistan. With luck, his planning will turn into results so the troops can come home soon.             

For me, Obama’s greatest achievement over the past year was to restore America’s shattered image abroad. Countries like Russia and China, which shunned us during the Bush years, now are more willing to engage on tough issues such as nuclear disarmament and global warming. After eight years of isolation, people abroad are beginning to like us again. On my class trip to France in April, I proudly wore my Obama T-shirt around Paris. Under the Bush administration, I might have pretended to be Canadian. Thanks to President Obama, I am prouder to be an American than I have been in a long time.             

Indeed, if I had to sum up what I thought of Obama’s first year, all I’d have to say is “not too shabby, Mr. President.” Of course there are still more policies to enact, still more things to be done. But I have hope and optimism that Obama will turn out to be one hell of a President. From that blistering day in June, when Obama flashed his toothy grin my way, to this chilly January day, I can think of only three words to describe him. Yes we can.

Evan Monod, 17, is a high school senior from Weybridge, Vermont, interested in politics. He has cerebral palsy and walks with crutches, which got him a front-row seat at the Obama rally mentioned in his essay.

I consider myself a liberal and consider President Obama to be a vast improvement over his opposition during the election. That said, he has almost completely failed to live up to my expectations as president – and my expectations were not that high.

I didn’t expect him to fix the economy, because that is very difficult and he is only human. I didn’t expect him to fix everything that Bush ruined about the country, because there is so much of it, and Obama’s power is not unlimited. However, he’s doing nothing at all. The Democrats control both the White House and both chambers of Congress.

Fighting, of course.

If the Democrats were slightly more competent, the country would be a much better place. It didn’t need to take a year to pass a significantly weakened health care bill, but it did, because of simple incompetence. And now this one tiny success may be in jeopardy from this lost senate seat. If the health care plans fall through now, it will be because the Democratic Party refused to act within the window where accomplishing something was possible. These people were elected to change things, and they haven’t.

Then there’s the matter of the wars. I say that Obama’s power is not unlimited, but here it is. He is the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. If Obama wanted to, he could pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan, but he hasn’t done so. In fact, he has taken an insignificant number of people out of Iraq, and has just promised to send another thirty thousand to Afghanistan.

I believe that if we left Afghanistan today, the war would be less bloody than it would be if we were to leave ten years from now. Furthermore, over the course of those ten years (Obama’s deadlines will prove to be impossible) there would be many, many deaths from the slow, underground, guerrilla war that is taking place even with our intervention. Many of these deaths will be American soldiers, who have nothing at all to do with the social problems they are dying for.

Furthermore, the wars have taken far more American lives than did the attacks they were supposedly retaliation against, and have ruined America’s image in the eyes of the rest of the world.

Lou Lessing, 17, is a high school senior from Middlebury, Vermont, and a staff member of the Middlebury Union High School student newspaper, The Tigers' Print.