Top goals debated for the first 100 days of the Obama Administration

At a discussion on “After the Election: The New Administration and the Democracy Party in a Transformed Political World,” contributing editor for the New York Times Magazine, Matt Bai, said he didn’t think Obama won by a landslide on election night. Bai compared Obama to Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996 when Clinton won more electoral votes than Obama did in this election.

According to Bai, universal health care must be the number one priority on Obama’s to-do list as President. Bai further stated that “health care is a critical thing for Obama to accomplish,” “…businesses want it, the public want it…”

President and co-founder of the non-partisan think tank Third Way, Jonathan Cowan, believes the opposite; that energy, not health care, must be Obama’s first priority. According to Cowan, Obama will “reach across the aisle to get bipartisanship”.

When comparing Obama to the 2004 democratic candidate, John Kerry, Cowan said Obama performed much better among the identified liberal voters. Obama also received more votes among moderates and conservatives. Cowan highlighted Obama’s economic strategy, saying his middle-class ideas and solutions outranked his opponents.

Cowan also said that he believes Obama will protect women’s rights to have an abortion, but still reduce the number of abortions across the nation.