US President Obama marks 100th day in office

But as he works through the day with a town hall meeting and a news conference, Obama also has reasons for cheer: The defection of veteran Republican senator Arlen Specter boosted his prospects for winning congressional approval for health care reform and other key parts of his agenda.

The swine flu scare is the latest emergency of Obamas whirlwind first 100 days. The president sent a letter to Congress on Tuesday asking for $1.5 billion in supplemental spending to fight the flu outbreak by building drug stockpiles and monitoring future cases.

The outbreak, which officials said was spreading quickly in the U.S. and will likely kill people, adds one more item on the presidents list of challenges.
"This is, obviously, a cause for concern and requires a heightened state of alert," Obama said Monday about the flu outbreak. "But its not a cause for alarm."

Obama has applied the same "no drama" leadership to his first 100 days as president - a traditional, if arbitrary, marker for U.S. leaders - mapping out a big-risk agenda that he has been executing methodically, keeping to the discipline that characterized his presidential campaign.

Obama took office Jan. 20 as the first black U.S. president, raising hopes around the world for a new era for the United States after the unpopular presidency of George W. Bush. He took control of a nation fighting two wars and facing its worst economic crisis in generations.

In the first 100 days, he has won passage of a massive economic stimulus package that will funnel billions into such Obama priorities as health care and renewable energy, and announced plans to revamp the ailing financial system. He has presented plans to withdraw most US troops in Iraq and boost them in Afghanistan. He has pledged to close the Guantanamo Bay prison camp and prohibit the torture of detainees, though he has been wary of investigating past abuses.

Obama eased Bush-era restraints on stem-cell research and dedicated himself to repairing Americas tarnished image, breaking away from the uncompromising tone of the previous administration.

He gave his first TV interview as president to an Arabic-language station and told Muslims that "Americans are not your enemy;" he entertained overtures from Cuban President Raul Castro and Venezuelas anti-American president, Hugo Chavez.

The public has been mesmerized, following his every move: the arrival of the family dog, Bo; the first ladys bare arms; daughters Sasha and Malias swing set; even the visit to the White House of the surviving Grateful Dead.

An Associated Press-GfK poll showed that most Americans consider their new president to be a strong, ethical leader who is working for change as he promised in his campaign. Obamas job approval rating stands at a healthy 64 percent and, for the first time in years, more people than not say the country is headed in the right direction, the poll says.

But not everyone is pleased. Some members of his own party complain he is not liberal enough and has compromised too much, and many have worried that he is spending too much money and taking the budget deficit to new, dizzying heights.

It hasnt all been smooth sailing: it took three nominations for Obama to get a commerce secretary, and two to find a health secretary.

And the opposition Republicans have, for the most part, shunned the new presidents much publicized offers of bipartisanship and labeled him a high spending leader who is being weak abroad. Former House Republican leader Newt Gingrich recently compared Obama to Jimmy Carter, a one-term president who was regarded as timid.

But Republicans took a hit Tuesday when Specter abruptly switched parties, pushing Obamas Democrats within one seat of a 60-vote supermajority they need to push the presidents agenda through the Senate.

Specters motivation is to boost his chances of re-election as a moderate, after finding the Republican party increasingly dominated by conservatives.
The Senators decision gives Democrats and their allies at least 59 Senate seats. One vacancy remains from the state of Minnesota, where Democrat Al Franken holds a narrow lead in a race being disputed in court.

With 60 votes in the 100-seat chamber, Obamas fellow Democrats could stop Republican filibusters, a stalling tactic used to delay or defeat legislation.
Obama hailed Specters switch, but its blessing may prove mixed. The president vowed a more bipartisan era in Washington, and the loss of another Republican centrist will make Congress more partisan than before and Republicans even less amenable to working with Democrats.