Special Report: Obama's first 100 days in White House

Special Report: Barack Obama: The 44th U.S. President

Special Report: U.S. presidential election 2008

    by Jing Zhao Cesarone

    CHICAGO, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Many Chicagoans are happy with the job President Barack Obama has done during his first 100 days in office but realize their favorite son cannot immediately solve all of the country's problems.

    Up against a wrenching economic crisis, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in addition to the recent swine flu epidemic, Obama has moved ahead on multiple fronts during his first 100 days.

    Interviews with a number of Chicago-area residents revealed a preponderance of positive feelings and support for the president but some pointed criticism as well.

    Obama on Nov. 5, 2008, announced his election victory to a cheering crowd at Grant Park in downtown Chicago, putting the city in the world spotlight.

    While agreeing that the 100-day period was not sufficient to properly assess Obama's performance, especially during a challenging time, most Chicagoans interviewed believed the president was leading the country in the right direction despite some concerns over his economic and foreign policies. .

    "He truly lives up to our ideal," Steve Jones, associate dean of liberal arts and sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said.

    Jones said Obama had built a strong foundation for the next several years by bringing many talented people into his administration and by establishing real leadership.

    Michael Mintz, a dentist, said Obama "is doing a great job."

    "Although it is too soon to see any significant changes, the feeling of optimism he has created in our country is pervasive," he said.

    Sonya Wilburn, a teacher who lives three blocks away from Obama's Chicago home, said she felt honored and privileged to have a president come from her neighborhood.

    "Look at my T-shirt, I am a big fan with a lot of Obama gear," Wilburn said. "Now we all feel a big rush when we go to the two neighborhood restaurants, Valois and Medici, where we used to see the Obama family dine."

    David Parker, an artist and art dealer, said he is "just so happy that we finally have an intellectual in American leadership."

    "I am especially impressed that he has reached out to engage the Republican Party rather than fight with it," Parker said.

    Gregory P. Johnson, a 46-year-old African American who works as a doorman, said he was very proud that Obama happens to be from the same city.

    "The beauty is that it doesn't matter where he is from, whether he is black or white," Johnson said. "I support him because I believe in his values and views."

    He said Americans cannot just sit back and watch Obama try to do everything by himself.

    "We Americans have to do it all together as a whole and everyone has to pitch in," Johnson said.

    Wilburn said she had noticed that people were becoming more realistic concerning Obama because they no longer expect him to fix everything right away.

    Jones said the difficult times Obama is facing today are reminiscent of those that President Franklin D. Roosevelt faced while dealing with the Great Depression and World War II.

    He said it was amazing that Obama had made it through his 100th day in office without making any major mistakes.

    However, some Chicagoans had different views concerning Obama's policies.

    On Feb. 17, Obama signed a historic 787-billion-dollar stimulus bill declaring the "beginning of the end" of the worst U.S. economic crisis in 80 years.

    Thomas W. Bartkoski, director of a non-profit public-private group that assists companies locating and expanding in and around Chicago, said Obama's recovery effort "had already brought jobs to Chicago."

    Jason Thompson, CIO of Caledonia Capital LLC, had a negative view of Obama's cabinet choices. "Obama has squandered a tremendous opportunity to infuse transparency and accountability two traits utterly lacking in the prior administration into the executive branch of government," Thompson said.

    Rather than appoint "outsiders" who could induce real change, Obama instead turned to party cronies and maintained a business as usual attitude that has kept the real power in Washington in the hands of inept Wall Street bankers and the Federal Reserve instead of the rightful owner: the American people, he said.

    A new CNN poll released this week showed Obama at the top of the public opinion polls: an impressive 63 percent of American voters approve of the way he is handling his job, while 75 percent, a number rarely heard in presidential politics, believe he has the personality and leadership qualities for the job.

    "I'm pleased with the progress we've made but I'm not satisfied. I'm confident in the future but I'm not content with the present," President Obama said on his 100th day in office during a town hall event in St. Louis.