Obama's First 100 Days

There are 3 articles out there on the web that rate Obama's first 100 days when it comes to food. One of them is mine, one is from Civil Eats, and one is by Obama Foodorama. We each went about it in different ways. I compared his campaign promises and promises made after taking office with his actions (and the actions of those in his administration). Civil Eats gave the Obamas a B- together but Michelle is the A student between the two of them with her garden. Barack himself got a C-. I didn't give out grades but I think that's about accurate. He's mostly just continuing to follow the same unsustainable path we've been on since the end of World War II, with a few improvements (like the new White House garden and the appointment of Kathleen Merrigan as the new #2 at the USDA).

Obama Foodorama has a different take though:

There's a single word for President Obama and Ag policy in the first 100 days: Unprecedented.
It's now fairly obvious that the President is in firm possession of the deep understanding that food and Ag policy is connected to everything, that it's the critical starting point for every policy discussion. Whether it's green recovery, health care, the economy, the credit markets, homeland security, etc, Ag policy is entangled with and impacts every other area of policy the President is addressing. Obama has surrounded himself with cutting-edge thinkers who are savvy multi-taskers, who also manage to work food and Ag into their platforms, even when their jobs ostensibly have nothing to do with food and Ag policy. A few examples: Steven Chu, the Energy Secretary, has publicly worried that climate change is going to rapidly decimate California Ag and vineyards. Van Jones, the Green Collar advisor for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, has big plans for greenroof food gardens in urban areas, and eventually even the White House (giving new meaning to "small" and "local" farming). Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, who has a long resume in social justice, will be crucial for creating a just food economy, in which we do not rely on migrant or slave labor, and even the poorest among us have access to good, nutritious food. We have Kathleen Sebelius, the newly confirmed Secretary of Health and Human Services, who still happens to be the governor of Kansas (pictured last night after being confirmed). Just days ago, Governor Sebelius, ethical foodist, made a crucial legislative veto regarding hormone labeling on milk, back in her home state. We have Rahm Emanuel, secret foodist, who's walking around the Hill debating farm subsidies (and carbon credits, for that matter); and his brother Zeke, health policy advisor for the President, who moonlights as a restaurant critic.

While I agree with Obama Foodorama that Steven Chu, Van Jones, and Hilda Solis are fan-freaking-tastic, what about less excellent choices like Larry Summers and Timothy Geithner on Obama's economic team? I doubt either of them have read the wonderful new book Slow Money: Investing as if Food, Farms, and Fertility Mattered by Woody Tasch. One of the most profound points I've heard is that nature does not function based on supply and demand. When we deplete the soil, the soil doesn't "get" that it's in high demand and then create more supply.

Furthermore, while I get that Obama has a terrific strategy of surrounding himself with qualified people (plus the occasional Wall Street shill), I don't think that Obama himself really gets food and ag issues. I don't expect him to be all things to all people, and I don't expect him to know everything about every issue. Unfortunately, MANY - far too many - of the very respected "ag experts" from very respectable institutions in this country absolutely SUCK. It's the predictable result of a country that has been practicing "better living through chemistry" for several decades and only just discovering sustainability. We're only now beginning to have university programs that teach sustainable ag. We certainly don't have a large corps of well-known PhDs to compete with those on the other side. Someone like Obama would have to take a pretty big leap of faith to totally ignore the entire ag establishment and head out into unknown sustainable territory. But who knows. He's a smart guy. Maybe he'll get it.

What are your thoughts about Obama's first 100 days? How do you think he's doing on food and ag issues?

Photo credit: Steve Rhodes on Flickr.com