GSPM Blog

MTV just posted an article to their website about Obama's One Year, in which our Former Dean, Christopher Arterton plays a big role: 

Dr. Chris Arterton, former dean of George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management, said one thing he's noticed a year into Obama's administration is that the political intensity is fully on the Republican side, versus last year, when it was on the Democratic side thanks to the enthusiasm of young people supporting a candidate who was an inspiring outsider. "In the policy realm, the past 365 days have served to intensely anger people on the conservative side, who feel he's been conducting a socialist experiment with public policies," Arterton said. "That has energized the [conservative] base and helped recruit money and volunteers."

Arterton said Obama's message of change has taken some serious hits, with his poll ratings dropping from 70 percent or more in the early days to less than 50 percent of respondents now saying they think he's doing a good job. "The halo effect of the election has worn off ... [because] he was blown off course by this huge agenda of problems, all of which are interconnected: health care and the economy, foreign-policy questions and the need to spend funds on a two-front war. These are all massive problems, and I can't think of an administration that was confronted by more serious problems since FDR's time."

While Obama gave himself a B+ for his first year recently, Arterton said a more accurate grade might be a solid B. "Against the context of the enormity of problems he's faced, he's doing pretty well," he said. "Is it clear the American public is running out of patience? Absolutely."

For the full article, click here.