A Big First Year?

But will he get credit with all the maumauing coming out of the TradMedia and Fox News?Via Taegan-

Jacob Weisberg says the conventional wisdom about President Obama's first year in office -- that he hasn't been effective in implementing his agenda -- is "sure to be flipped on its head by the anniversary of his inauguration on Jan. 20."

"If, as seems increasingly likely, Obama wins passage of a health care reform a bill by that date, he will deliver his first State of the Union address having accomplished more than any other postwar American president at a comparable point in his presidency. This isn't an ideological point or one that depends on agreement with his policies. It's a neutral assessment of his emerging record -- how many big, transformational things Obama is likely to have made happen in his first 12 months in office."

Iraqi MPs stall deals on Bush benchmarks

Remember when it was benchmarks, benchmarks, benchmarks all the time? Guess they're not that important any more.

Three key US-backed measures on oil, provincial elections and the future of US troops are mired in the Iraqi parliament, raising doubts as to whether they can come into effect before George Bush leaves office.

Once listed as a crucial "benchmark" allowing the US president to claim success in Iraq, the provincial elections look likely to be delayed until next year. The oil law, which nationalist MPs blocked last summer over fears that foreign companies would take over Iraq's major resource, is facing the same problem again.

The pact to permit US troops to remain in Iraq is equally sensitive, and was described by the prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, this month as being in stalemate. Intensive US-Iraqi talks on new drafts have resumed and, after meeting Bush in the White House this week, President Jalal Talabani tried to sound optimistic. "We have very good, important steps towards reaching to finalise this agreement," he said. Many MPs complain that it will give the US excessive rights.