[ti:Weighing the First Year of Obama as President]
[ar:Mario Ritter]
[al:IN THE NEWS]
[by:www.21voa.com]
[00:00.00]This is IN THE NEWS
[00:04.98]in VOA Special English.
[00:08.25]President Barack Obama
[00:10.60]has begun his second year
[00:13.14]in office.
[00:13.98]The forty-fourth president,
[00:16.08]and first African-American
[00:18.21]president, was inaugurated
[00:20.25]last January twentieth.
[00:22.85]"Today I say to you that
[00:24.54]the challenges we face are real,
[00:25.98]they are serious and they are many.
[00:28.32]They will not be met easily
[00:30.36]or in a short span of time.
[00:32.67]But know this America,
[00:34.14]they will be met."
[00:36.15]Those challenges included
[00:39.33]an economic downturn,
[00:41.02]wars in Afghanistan
[00:43.26]and Iraq and a promise
[00:46.29]to reform the health care system.
[00:48.96]Congress quickly approved
[00:51.25]an economic recovery bill.
[00:53.53]Yet unemployment remains
[00:55.77]high at ten percent.
[00:58.21]The Obama administration now
[01:01.40]faces the earthquake relief effort
[01:04.18]in Haiti and the threat
[01:06.04]of terrorism at home.
[01:07.90]There was a failed attempt
[01:10.48]to bomb a plane on its way
[01:12.64]to Detroit, Michigan,
[01:14.29]on Christmas Day.
[01:15.83]"As president,
[01:18.05]I have a solemn responsibility
[01:19.49]to protect our nation and our people.
[01:21.48]And when the system fails,
[01:22.74]it is my responsibility."
[01:24.48]President Obama
[01:25.52]campaigned on a promise of
[01:27.51] "change we can believe in.
[01:30.55]His high public approval ratings
[01:33.49]have fallen in recent months.
[01:36.13]A poll by Quinnipiac University
[01:39.67]in Connecticut found Americans
[01:42.22]equally divided about his first year.
[01:45.25]Peter Brown works at the university.
[01:48.83]"They like Obama personally.
[01:51.07]They think he is trustworthy and honest.
[01:53.62]They think he is a strong leader.
[01:54.99]They say they don't necessarily
[01:56.95]agree with him on the issues
[01:58.34]they are most concerned about.
[01:59.58]They wish he would spend
[02:01.36]more time on the economy.
[02:02.25]They don't like the health care bill."
[02:04.06]The Senate and House of Representatives
[02:06.10]have each passed their own
[02:08.45]health care legislation.
[02:10.39]But there is no final bill.
[02:13.06]And the Democrats
[02:14.85]have a new problem
[02:16.16]they had not expected.
[02:18.22]A newly elected senator
[02:20.77]is a Republican who
[02:22.75]opposes the legislation.
[02:24.64]Scott Brown won a seat
[02:27.08]in Massachusetts that
[02:29.16]had been held
[02:30.00]by Democrat Ted Kennedy
[02:32.60]for almost fifty years.
[02:34.64]But more importantly,
[02:36.98]Senate Democrats
[02:38.27]lost their sixtieth vote.
[02:40.53]Senators can threaten a bill
[02:43.27]with unlimited debate
[02:44.91]unless sixty senators
[02:47.25]voteto prevent it.
[02:48.90]President Obama had campaigned
[02:52.32]for the Democratic candidate
[02:54.31]in Tuesday's special Senate
[02:56.66]election in Massachusetts.
[02:58.66]Experts say
[02:59.81]one of the lessons is that
[03:02.66]even though the economy
[03:04.15]has improved,
[03:05.31]it demands more attention.
[03:07.70]David Wasserman
[03:09.69]from the Cook Political Report
[03:11.69]in Washington was a guest
[03:13.70]on VOA's "Encounter" program.
[03:16.68]"I don't think President Obama
[03:18.43]and the Democrats were expecting
[03:20.17]to have to spend so much time
[03:21.32]on health care because
[03:22.96]it is dragging on.
[03:24.09]And in the eyes of
[03:25.34]a lot of Americans,
[03:26.19]this is not really dealing
[03:27.48]with the economy.
[03:28.35]This isn't bringing back jobs."
[03:29.89]During his first year,
[03:31.58]President Obama angered conservatives
[03:34.82]who saw him as unwilling
[03:37.09]to compromise on issues
[03:39.14]like health reform.
[03:40.63]Yet some liberals saw him
[03:44.42]as too willing to compromise.
[03:46.63]They were disappointed
[03:49.02]with decisions like sending
[03:51.12]more troops to Afghanistan
[03:53.02]and not closing the Guantanamo Bay prison.
[03:57.21]Many political experts
[03:59.60]are mixed in their opinions.
[04:01.55]But Larry Sabato at the University
[04:04.55]of Virginia says not to judge
[04:07.03]too much from the first year.
[04:09.59]"If you look back in history
[04:12.41]you will find that many presidents
[04:14.10]who were enormously popular
[04:15.75]in that first year became
[04:17.05]failed presidents over time.
[04:19.93]Other presidents who were not
[04:21.87]terribly popular in their first year
[04:23.60]and had lots of controversies
[04:25.06]served two full terms
[04:26.50]and went out of office
[04:28.54]in a reasonably positive way."
[04:30.98]Congressional elections
[04:32.92]will be held in November,
[04:34.66]and Republican gains are likely.
[04:37.55]Smaller Democratic majorities
[04:40.35]could force the president
[04:42.76]to reach out to the opposition
[04:44.55]and to conservatives in his own party.
[04:48.13]And that's IN THE NEWS
[04:49.79]in VOA Special English.
[04:52.59]I'm Mario Ritter.
END OF TRACK. "END OF TRACK." The two men bowed. "Whoever was that person you were talking to?" she enquired, as soon as they stood together. The took of triumph faded from her eyes, she had grown worn and weary. The roses were wilting on the walls, the lights were mostly down now. Hetty, looking in to see if anything was wanted, found herself driven away almost fiercely. I only saw Master Jervie once when he called at tea time, The year 1747 was opened by measures of restriction. The House of Lords, offended at the publication of the proceedings of the trial of Lord Lovat, summoned the parties to their bar, committed them to prison, and refused to liberate them till they had pledged themselves not to repeat the offence, and had paid very heavy fees. The consequence of this was that the transactions of the Peers were almost entirely suppressed for nearly thirty years from this time, and we draw our knowledge of them chiefly from notes taken by Horace Walpole and Lord Chancellor Hardwicke. What is still more remarkable, the reports of the House of Commons, being taken by stealth, and on the merest sufferance, are of the most meagre kind, sometimes altogether wanting, and the speeches are given uniformly under fictitious names; for to have attributed to Pitt or Pelham their[112] speeches by name would have brought down on the printers the summary vengeance of the House. Many of the members complained bitterly of this breach of the privileges of Parliament, and of "being put into print by low fellows"; but Pelham had the sense to tolerate them, saying, "Let them alone; they make better speeches for us than we can make for ourselves." Altogether, the House of Commons exhibited the most deplorable aspect that can be conceived. The Ministry had pursued Walpole's system of buying up opponents by place, or pension, or secret service money, till there was no life left in the House. Ministers passed their measures without troubling themselves to say much in their behalf; and the opposition dwindled to Sir John Hinde Cotton, now dismissed from office, and a feeble remnant of Jacobites raised but miserable resistance. In vain the Prince of Wales and the secret instigations of Bolingbroke and Doddington stimulated the spirit of discontent; both Houses had degenerated into most silent and insignificant arenas of very commonplace business. "It certainly will be. Miss Widgeon," answered Maria, with strictly "company manners." "One who has never had a brother exposed to the constant dangers of army life can hardly understand how glad we all feel to have Si snatched from the very jaws of death and brung back to us." "Just plug at 'em as you would at a crow, and then go on your way whistlin'?" persisted Harry. "Hurroo!" echoed Hennessey; "that's the ticket." "Come forward, keeper," continued the baron, "and state how these arrows came into your hands!" "Yes." HoMEJULIA¾©Ïã2018ÏÂÔØ
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