The coverage of President Barack Obama’s first 100 days in office has been exhaustive.  White House Senior Advisor David Axelrod remarked that the milestone was tantamount to a “Hallmark holiday.”  Keep in mind: one-hundred days of a US President’s term is roughly seven percent of his or her whole term.  The Beltway columnists, presidential historians, and Internet pundits have all given their take on how well the president is doing.  The overall score seems to be a B+.  I’m taking finals this week and that grade sounds pretty decent.

Unlike the Washington politicos, I don’t spend my whole day following the media chatter.  Rather, I’m a former Obama campaign staffer who’s slipping back into the college lifestyle.  Two years ago, I packed up my car and drove cross-country from Penn State University to Las Vegas, Nevada.  I wasn’t getting hitched with my high school sweetheart or trying to become the next Texas hold ‘em champ.  I was trying to help elect a president.  However, I would gamble (by taking off time from college for a guy with a funny name who was down in the polls) and get married (to the campaign).

During his first one hundred days in office, President Obama has signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, reauthorized SCHIP, pushed through Congress the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and has taken the first steps to restart US foreign policy (with emphasis towards the Islamic world).  I praise the president for all of these achievements.  Yet one campaign promise hasn’t received much attention from pundits: eliminating of income taxes for senior citizens making 50,000 dollars or less.

As a field organizer for Barack Obama’s Campaign for Change, I would bring this talking point up when trying to win the support of undecided senior citizens.  While on the phone or at their doorstep I kept up bringing up this point because many senior citizens didn’t know Barack was committed to doing this and it seemed to get their attention.  Interestingly enough I now recall a few saying that they’ve heard the lofty election season promises before and having to pay no taxes sounded too good to be true.  Nevertheless, I was irked when I found out that the president had abandoned this pledge.  I’ve found some solace in former-Governor Mario Coumo’s phrase: “We campaign in poetry, but when we’re elected we’re forced to govern in prose.”

President Obama has said that he won’t have the luxury of a “caretaker presidency”.  With the huge challenges that the president and his team have on their plate, I’m pleased that they remain confident.  With the multitude of challenges that President Obama faces he’s going to need all 1461 days of his first term to move the ship of state.

-Michael