09:28, 29 April 2009 | GMT +5
Judging Obama in first 100 days
WASHINGTON. April 29. KAZINFORM Today marks the first 100 days in office for US President Barack Obama.In just 100 days, the incoming president has banned torture, begun diplomatic talks with Iran, started to address climate change and confronted the economic crisis. He even got the first family a dog, Kazinform refers to The Arab News.

Obama has also set the tone and laid the groundwork for his presidency, which seems to be altering the public perception of race relations in the US. Two-thirds of Americans now say race relations are generally good and the percentage of blacks who say so has double since last July, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll released on Tuesday.
The poll found broad support for Obama?s approach on a variety of issues, including one the most contentious: Whether Congress should investigate the harsh interrogation tactics authorized by his predecessor. Sixty-two percent of Americans share Obama?s view that hearings are unnecessary.
In the midst of dealing of the 100-day presidency, there has emerged a hiccup of the widening swine flu outbreak where the president had to deflect speculation that he could have acquired the virus on his April 16 trip to Mexico City.
On that day Obama met with Felipe Solis, the 65-year-old head of the national museum in Mexico City. According to the Spanish-language obituaries in the Mexican press, Solis died on April 23 from pneumonia related to an ongoing health condition. Many in the media outside Mexico widely disseminated incorrect information that Solis died from the swine flu the day after his meeting with Obama. As recently as this week, conservative Fox News commentator Glenn Beck was continuing to broadcast this false claim.
The media rumor-mongering led White House press secretary Robert Gibbs to reiterate numerous times that the president?s health is fine. Soon after the Gibbs press briefing, the White House felt compelled to distribute a statement from the Mexican Embassy backing up its story.
Rumors of a flu-tainted president aside, Obama?s first 100 days have involved him fielding queries about the economy, his decision to allow federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research and even his views on steroid use among major league baseball players.
Even before taking office, Obama also broke a record during the president transition period from his election Nov. 4 through Jan. 9, holding 15 news conferences and taking 62 questions.
That far surpassed what George Bush, Bill Clinton and former Presidents George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan did during their transitions, Kazinform cites The Arab News.