Obama campaign promises that are still in progress

As we wind down our work on President Barack Obama’s 508 first-term promises, we’ve tried to rate as many of them as we can Promise Kept, Promise Broken or Compromise (that is, partially kept).

But we’ve noticed that a number of Obama’s 2008 campaign promises will need to stay in the In the Works or Stalled categories beyond his second inauguration.

That’s because some of his promises, for one reason or another, are still in progress. For example, we rated his promise to provide “a path to citizenship for undocumented workers” as In the Works. Obama says immigration reform is one of his first priorities during his second term.

In other cases, Obama made promises with a timeline of longer than four years. For example, Obama promised to 5 million green jobs over 10 years, and to reduce oil consumption by 2030. In these cases, we’ll assign final ratings as he’s leaving office, based on the best available evidence.

We found 18 promises that fall into one of these two categories. Here’s a complete list.

Promises with a long-term time frame

• Double federal funding for basic science research over 10 years

• Create 5 million “green” jobs over 10 years

• Reduce oil consumption by 35 percent by 2030

• Invest $150 billion to encourage the “green” business sector over the next 10 years

• Require utilities to reduce electricity demand 15 percent from projected levels by 2020

• Make buildings more energy efficient (by 2030)

• Reduce energy consumption in federal buildings (by 2025)

• Support college credit initiatives (by 2016)

Promises that are still in progress

• Mandate insurance coverage of autism treatment. Rating this promise depends on the release of HHS rules, possibly in 2013.

• Mandate standards for securing personal data. Obama is reportedly drafting an executive order governing an array of cybersecurity issues.

• Require all schools of education to be accredited. A rulemaking effort is under way.

• Create a voluntary national performance assessment for educators. A rulemaking effort is under way.

• Improve high school graduation rates. National data for high school graduation rates aren’t yet available for 2010, 2011 or 2012.

• Increase the number of high school students taking college-level courses. No data exists yet to prove more high school students took college-level courses under Obama.

• Provide a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. After limited efforts to pursue an immigration overhaul during his first term, Obama has recently shown renewed interest in the issue.

• Invest $50 billion in auto manufacturing facilities for fuel efficient vehicles. There is a lack of evidence so far about whether federal funding caused carmakers to make such investments or whether they would have happened anyway.

• Safeguard the right to privacy. Obama is reportedly drafting an executive order governing an array of cybersecurity issues.

• Develop a comprehensive cyber security and response strategy. Despite Obama’s efforts so far on implement a strategy to prepare the country for cyber attacks, it’s clear there is still a long way to go. We’ll continue to watch for any legislative action by the new Congress.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Since this article was first published, we have added two additional promises that we’re keeping at In the Works for now.