In this series, APP compares Obama to other modern presidents who assumed the office following an administration of the other party. So the comparison group includes FDR, Eisenhower, JFK, Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Clinton, and G.W. Bush. OIA I - Feb. 7 OIA V - Mar. 21 OIA II - Feb. 17 OIA VI - Apr. 5 OIA III - Feb. 25 OIA VII - Apr. 18 OIA IV - Mar. 11 OIA VIII - Apr. 30 Share on Facebook

Obama in Action Part VII: Day 88
An American Presidency Project Exclusive Analysis

April 18, 2009

SANTA BARBARA—As the 100 day mark approached, President Obama continued to lead our comparison group in many categories. He continues to set records for unilateral actions (see graph at bottom ), days of foreign travel (see graph for day 75), and issuance of constitutional signing statements.

In terms of all news conferences, both solo and joint, domestic and foreign, Obama ends day 88 tied with Kennedy at nine (see chart below); only Clinton did more in this early period with 11 news conferences. As for the more standard solo news conference format, Obama has roughly equaled the pace of his predecessors extending back to Nixon. (click for chart)

We pointed out that already Obama has set a record for the number of days a Chief Executive spent outside the US during the first 100 days. Including both domestic and foreign travel, only George W. Bush left the DC Metropolitan area on more days than Obama as of day 88. Bush’s travel days were overwhelmingly in the domestic US. We believe this probably reflects Bush’s need to continue to campaign for support following the controversial 2000 election. By contrast, more than half of Obama’s travel days have been outside the US.

Substantively, there were no new legislative accomplishments to point to between day 75 and 88. However, the Obama administration continued its campaign to drum up support for its recovery plan and financial regulatory reforms. Obama called for wholesale tax reform. In a major move, on day 88 the EPA announced a proposed finding that CO2 and other emissions are a health threat. This presages regulatory action, and may be expected to spur Congressional legislation to preempt regulation. During the period the Administration also made additional efforts to underscore its break with the Bush administration on torture and on relations with Cuba.

©The American Presidency Project

Citation: John T. Woolley and Gerhard Peters, "Obama in Action VII: Day 88 " in The American Presidency Project [online]. Santa Barbara, CA: University of California (hosted), Gerhard Peters (database). Available from World Wide Web: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/obama_in_action_vii_041809.php.