Obama hasn’t passed test yet

I could not help but feel a sense of deja vu as I read Indira Dammu’s Thursday column about President Bush.

While the embattled president has been a soft target for years now, his successful campaign in 2000 has several resemblances to the 2008 Barack Obama victory. He promised to bring a new way of doing things to the White House, which is similar to Obama’s message of change. He promised a diplomatic foreign policy approach, which would include absolutely no nation-building. Specifically, he planned to use a policy of containment to keep Saddam Hussein and Iraq in check, a plan that then-Sen. Obama agreed with wholeheartedly.

He had a vision of “compassionate conservatism,” which referred to responsibly using government funds to support charity organizations. Bush also promised to raise the Earned Income Tax Credit, which was similar to Obama’s middle and lower class tax cuts. Bush was forced to deal with Sept. 11, Hurricane Katrina and the current financial mess.

He has undoubtedly made some bad decisions. The idea, though, that Obama has already passed the test and will be a great president is extremely premature. We have no idea what Obama will do when the tough situations are actually sitting on his desk. Indira Dammu should read up on the 2000 election before she proclaims Obama a great president with the right policies for America.

Sam Drummy
IU senior