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One year after Grant Park, a look at promises

By Bill Adair
November 3, 2009

One year ago, Barack Obama held a giant celebration in Grant Park in Chicago and spoke of his goals for the presidency.

“This is our time,” he said, “to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can’t, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can.”

It was a speech that touched on his broad goals as president, but it only specifically mentioned one of the 515 campaign promises we’ve catalogued in our Obameter: his promise to buy his daughters a dog (No. 502 on our list, now rated a

Promise Kept

.)

Obama didn’t take office until January, of course, but this is a good moment to take stock of how he’s doing on his promises. Here’s our latest tally:


Promise Kept

: 49


Compromise

: 14


Promise Broken

: 7


Stalled

: 14


In the Works

: 129


Not Yet Rated

: 302

For the most significant promises, check our

Top 25

. Of those, two are rated Kept, one is  Broken, two Compromise, one Stalled, 14 In the Works and five Not Yet Rated.

Our Sources

See individual Promise items.

Browse the Truth-O-Meter

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One year after Grant Park, a look at promises





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