[Editor’s note: President Elect Barack Obama has a lot riding on his shoulders these days. The economy has tanked and multiple wars drag on yet “hope” is high. How have other presidents faired in their first 100 days to deal with the problems they faced and in enacting the initiatives they championed on the campaign trail. This graphic from Good magazine’s politics section shows us just that, tracking the 12 past presidents since 1933. Indicators include their popular vote, economic issues, social issues, foreign conflicts, diplomacy, first moments, red-phone moments, top secret issues, and energy issues. Thanks Patterson and Kristin!]
Republished from Good magazine.Â
“I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people,” Franklin D. Roosevelt told supporters in 1932 while accepting the presidential nomination. When he took office, he spent his first 100 days enacting a dizzying number of reforms designed to stablize an economically depressed nation. Since then, a president’s first 100 days have been an indicator of what he is able to accomplish. In January 2009, the clock starts again.
