Because it's one of those years again...

And because four different people randomly asked me about this blog in the past couple of weeks, I'm going to fire her back up. I can't promise I'll update as regularly as I like (he said, after not providing an update in 20 months), and I can't say I have the same passion for consuming political news I once did.

Ok, I'm not selling this very well, am I? Let's do a quick rundown of Obama's first 3 years in office:

Foreign Policy: A

He got Bin Laden. He got the troops out of Iraq ahead of schedule. He got Gaddafi for less than a billion dollars and with no lives spent. He's got us prepared for that invasion of Canada we're not supposed to talk about. It's hard to have complaints.

That said... China is our biggest foreign policy concern, and they still own us. And he "got Gaddafi" by following our allies into an illegal (though morally justified) war.

Can't give him an A+. But the reality is he's crushed it on foreign policy.

Economic Policy: C-

We're closing in on two straight years of private sector job growth. Nobody believes me when I tell them that.

That's thanks directly to the stimulus, and indirectly to the bailouts. The obvious problem is that the stimulus wasn't big enough and wasn't targeted well enough, while the bailouts came without strings. Which still burns me right up.

The other problem is that while the private sector grows, the public sector continues to shrink.

That's thanks directly to the decision to renew the Bush tax cuts. It was a gutless move. I don't care that people like Andrew Sullivan think it was great statesmanship.

That said... five months ago I worried that Obama was Herbert Hoover. In retrospect, I'm pretty sure he's not.

Civil Liberties: OMFG WHAT'S GOING ON????

DOMA's dying; Don't Ask Don't Tell is dead; women still have the right to choose (and the gag rule's been lifted); and a whole bunch of other nice stuff has happened.

But... the NDAA is an abomination that is wholly unconstitutional. And SOPA/PIPA will be right there with it, should they pass.

So while Obama has been a great president for civil liberties in some ways, in others he's been pretty openly Bush-ian.

Three long years. And 10 long, money-filled months to the next election.

It's good to be back.