Obama awards himself B+ for first year
US president Barack Obama awards himself "good solid B-plus" for first year in office
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Monday, 14, Dec 2009 01:30
By Matthew Champion.
As his first year in office draws to a close, Barack Obama has rated his performance so far as a B+.
The US president awarded himself a "good solid B-plus" for the last 12 months in an interview with Oprah Winfrey for the ABC network.
He said high unemployment rates and a lack of healthcare legislation meant he could not rate himself higher.
"The biggest burden on me right now is that economic growth has happened, but job growth has not happened," he said in a special programme for Christmas at the White House.
"B+ because of the things that are undone. Healthcare is not yet signed," President Obama continued.
"If I get health care passed, we tip into A-."
President Obama added that his administration had "inherited the biggest set of challenges of any president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt".
While the start of his administration saw hopes around the world soar at President Obama's potential impact and influence, he has been unable to make progress at home on health insurance reform and jobs, and abroad on Iran's nuclear programme and the war in Afghanistan, where he recently announced the deployment of 30,000 extra troops.
He was also forced to accept that a pledged to close the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay by January 22nd 2010 would not be met, while he was unable to convince China to commit to a legally-binding climate change deal at the UN summit in Copenhagen.
But he was rewarded for opening his arms to the Muslim world and pledging his commitment to ending nuclear proliferation by being named as the recipient of this year's Nobel peace prize.