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PAGE 12
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Journalist analyzes Obama’s first year By Lydia Statz The Daily Cardinal
Just 90 minutes after Air Force One left the Madison airport Wednesday, Mark Halperin, a senior political analyst for Time magazine, give his opinion on President Barack Obama’s performance so far to an audience of UW-Madison students, faculty and community members. According to Halperin, there have been many surprises during the first year of Obama’s leadership, the largest of which was the economic crisis. Halperin said the importance of the economy has halted Obama’s progress on many other important issues. “You’ve seen several other big agenda items pushed off, some implicitly, some quite explicitly,” Halperin said. “The hope of the White House is to get to those things in short order, but it’s clearly been a surprise to them how much of an issue this is.” However, Halperin said the economic crisis has also been an incredible opportunity for Obama. He said although he is cautious of the lingering high unemployment rates, he believes Obama’s greatest achievement so far has been ending the financial crisis. Halperin said a major disappointment for him has been the lack of bipartisanship in Washington. He said he blames Obama for the polarization, saying Obama should do more to remove political barriers. “It’s not about policy,” Halperin said. “It’s a culture and an attitude, and he has the capacity to change it, and for whatever reason, he did not.” Although many liberals have been disappointed that the president has not pushed a more liberal agenda during his first months in office, Halperin said he is hopeful about the administration’s push for universal health care. “I really respect what they’re doing on health care,” he said. “They’re asking members of Congress to risk losing their seats ... That kind of risk is rare in today’s political culture.” Halperin said despite some challenges the president has faced so far, he believes Obama’s real test has yet to come. He said he predicts more controversies and possible national security crises to be a challenge to Obama’s character and political longevity. Halperin’s lecture, titled “The Obama Report Card So Far: What’s Surprising and What’s Next,” was this year’s installment of the Nafziger Lecture Series, sponsored by the UW-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
isabel Álvarez/the daily cardinal
President Barack Obama greets attendees after his speech on education at Wright Middle School in Madison Wednesday.
Obama calls for reforms in education By Hannah Furfaro The Daily Cardinal
Isabel álvarez/the daily cardinal
In his speech, Obama promoted the Race to the Top program, which provides grants to states that increase educational standards.
A year to the day after the historic 2008 presidential election, President Barack Obama spoke to teachers and students at a Madison middle school about the federal Race to the Top program and the importance of improving education standards. In front of a crowd of nearly 600 at Wright Middle School, Obama called education reform “America’s national mission” and said now is the time to improve education in concrete ways. Obama stressed the importance of creating internationally competitive standards and called knowledge the “currency of the economy.” He encouraged states to improve stan-
dards and accountability in their efforts to vie for over $4 billion in federal Race to the Top funds. “If you’re willing to hold yourselves more accountable, and if you develop a strong plan to improve the quality of education in your state, then we’ll offer you a big grant to help you make that plan a reality,” he said. The funds are awarded on a competitive basis. Before a state is eligible to receive funding, it must remove any “firewall laws” that prevent evaluating teachers based on student performance. In the past few weeks, Gov. Jim Doyle has made attempts to remove such a law in Wisconsin, obama page 3
A year later, Obama’s policies have shown effects in state By Steven Rosenbaum The Daily Cardinal
President Barack Obama’s appearance in Madison Wednesday also marked the one-year anniversary of his historic election victory. Since that night, Obama has dealt with many significant and complicated issues. The debates regarding health insurance reform and the economic stimulus have raged through the halls of Congress, and their effects have been felt in Wisconsin. The largest impact Obama has made in Wisconsin has been through the economic stimulus plan. Wisconsin has received billions in federal money
from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and the government says over 10,000 jobs have been created or saved in the state since the stimulus plan was passed. Some notable projects throughout the state include almost $4 million in funding for the Truax Field airport in Madison, $10.3 million to support the Milwaukee Police Department and $116.8 million to the UW System, much of it for research grants and financial assistance. According to UW-Madison political science professor Charles Franklin, Obama’s stimulus plan is having both isabel álvarez/the daily cardinal
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A student at Wright Middle School reacts to Obama’s introduction.
“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”