Dizzying Ride

Making Sense of a Dizzying Ride

As President, Obama Pursues an Ambitious Agenda, but Some Policies Face Intense Debate Down the Line

GERALD F. SEIB

Some people have become a bit cynical about marking a new president's first 100 days, calling the milestone a kind of faux, Hallmark-card moment.

The First 100 Days

• Public Opinion: Obama remains popular, but a poll sends caution signs on some policies
• Handling Business: Plunging into the private sector, with few corporate hands on board
• Packed Agenda: Behind the scenes in a White House racing at full tilt
• View From Abroad: Allies cheer rhetoric but wait for actions and rebuff demands
• Milestones: Highlights of an eventful 100 days in Washington
• What's Next: Health care and cap-and-trade will dominate in Act II
• Media Strategy: Pitching the person as the best way to sell the agenda
• The Opposition: Republicans take long-term approach to making a comeback
• Race: Polarizing issue continues to be downplayed in public
• Old Pros: Past White House chiefs of staff analyze the new team in town
• Capital Journal: Engaged yet elusive leader defies easy labeling thus far
• History's Verdict: What the first lap can reveal about an administration

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• Photos: From Day 1 to Day 100
• Vote: How would you rate Obama so far?
• WSJ.com/100Days: Analysis, photos, more

Perhaps. But if ever there were 100 days worth marking, it would be those drawing to an end Wednesday. Consider what the country and its new president have been through:

In January, the month President Barack Obama took office, the country lost 741,000 jobs. Almost 275,000 homes went into foreclosure in the same month. As the new president put his hand on Abraham Lincoln's Bible to take the oath of office, the stock market had lost 14% of its value since his election; it would go on to lose a further 22% on his watch before rebounding.

Against that backdrop, the first 100 days of the Obama presidency have brought forth a mind-numbing succession of giant initiatives, some tackled and some simply teed up for debate down the line. The new president has overseen the passage of a $787 billion economic-stimulus bill and the dispersal of another $350 billion in financial-sector rescue funds. And those just were the emergency items. His real budget plan calls for, among other things, a $630 billion down payment on a new health system and a plan to dramatically curb greenhouse gases -- both mammoth undertakings in their own right.

Meantime, among the tens of thousands of Americans who lost jobs in the first 100 days of the Obama presidency was one Rick Wagoner, former chief executive officer of General Motors Corp., forced out by the administration as part of the price for a federal rescue. That surely will rank as one of the most important moments in the history of government-business relations -- yet, in a sign of the times, it is almost a footnote to all the other giant events of the period.

The past 100 days also are noteworthy for some things that didn't happen. In particular, bipartisan nirvana didn't emerge in Washington, as some envisioned. Instead, partisanship seems alive and well, showing the limits of the Obama "change" mantra.

All of that suggests this is, in fact, a good time to take stock. What follows in this special section are efforts to do just that: a look at the sometimes-harried effort to compose an economic plan; a new poll measuring Mr. Obama's popularity and success in bringing back a bit of optimism, as well as some areas of caution for him; a column looking at how hard his ideology is to describe; and more.