Restitutor Orbis

Four weeks into the Obama presidency and the new president still has the support of the American people. His approval ratings are still high, demonstrating that Republican propaganda and media disinformation is not taking hold among the people. I suspect in this day and age, with so many "unofficial" media outlets available - the internet for one, including blogs - people are better able to keep track of events and less likely to believe what they're told. For example, Newsweek's big front page announcing "We're all Socialists Now!" Saying it doesn't make it so. They always neglect to point out things that have already taken place, under other administrations, that could equally well have earned that charge. The media is as much the enemy as the GOP in this. Just as guilty. Just as beholden to Joseph Göbbels. How proud he would be!

My grade for Obama must stand at a "B". Recently, it has been announced that with regards to the Faith-Based program, Obama neglected to put an end to Bush-era discrimination in hiring practices by groups received OUR tax dollars. Meaning, as under Bush, WE pay these clowns so they can discriminate against US who are not the right kind of Christian or who are not Christian at all. I would mark him down further but after the last release on this subject, this new bit of news is really not news at all. Obama lied on the campaign trail:

Speaking last July in Ohio, Mr. Obama set forth his “basic principles” for assuring constitutional balance. “First, if you get a federal grant, you can’t use the grant money to proselytize to the people you help and you can’t discriminate against them — or against the people you hire — on the basis of religion,” he said. “Second, federal dollars that go directly to churches, temples and mosques can only be used on secular programs.”

And he deserves to be downgraded for so doing, but I'd already downgraded him, expecting that this would be the result - the drop from an A to a B. As the Times concludes that, "it is hardly the clear commitment to proper employment practices Mr. Obama voiced as a candidate, and the Constitution requires."

A better scoring method would probably be to grade him on different areas - Domestic Policy and Foreign Policy, or to break it down even further. It is something I will have to consider. If I included Church-State as a separate category, he'd have at most a "C" right now, and possibly a "D".

That's a thought for another day, however. I wanted to share a bit of unrelated news, the view held of President George W. Bush by historians. CNN reports the following:

Lincoln finished first in a ranking by historians of the 42 former White House occupants. The survey was released over Presidents Day weekend.

The news wasn't quite as good for the latest addition to the nation's most exclusive fraternity: George W. Bush finished 36th in the survey, narrowly edging out the likes of historical also-rans Millard Fillmore, Warren Harding and Franklin Pierce.

James Buchanan -- the man who watched helplessly as the nation lurched toward civil war in the 1850s -- finished last.

"As much as is possible, we created a poll that was non-partisan, judicious and fair-minded," said Rice University professor Douglas Brinkley, who helped organize the survey of 65 historians for cable television network C-SPAN.

The survey -- which asked participants to rank each president on 10 qualities of leadership ranging from public persuasion and economic management to international relations and moral authority -- was the network's second since 2000.

It's Lincoln's 200th birthday. Happy Birthday, Mr. President!