How Do You Grade A Political Figure's Job Performance?

Question

What kind of things would you grade your local Senator, Representative, the President, or one of the Cabinet members on? What grade would you give a political leader if you had a chance on their job performance? Name, Office, Location of Representation.

Answer 1

Simple, look at how successful they were implementing the plans and policies they promised you when you elected them...  Candidates run on a platform: "If you elect me, I will (A), (B), (C), and (D)"...  If a candidate manages to do (B), (C) and (D) he/she has done pretty good based on their running platform...  however, if they only manage to accomplish (A) they have not done much...

I'll use Bush's last term as an example...  he has succeeding in preventing another terrorist attack on U.S. soil, he has delt a great deal of damage to international terrorist organizations like Al Queda, he has given the tax breaks he promised, and made excelent progress in stablizing Iraq... these are all campiagn promises he has made good on (whether you agree with them or not)... on the other hand, he has been unable to catch bin Laden, solve the immigration issue, or fix social security, which were all things he promised to do...  based on his 2004 platform, Bush has actually been quite successful in doing what he said he would do when we elected him...

And before I am flooded with "thumbs down" I realize that not all of those successes can be directly attributed to Bush just as not all his unkept promises aren't directly his fault...

Congress, on the other hand, has been much less successful;  they have not solved the imigration issue, they have failed to bring the troops back from Iraq (which is different from Bush's promise to "stablize" Iraq), they have not "fixed" the tax system to right Bush's percieved wrongs, they have done nothing to slow the rise of gas prices, lower the national deficit or stimulate the economy; all of which were generally promised by the challengers in the 2006 campaign and all of which Congress has the power to do despite the veto powers of the President (with the possible exception of gas prices and economic stimulus which are issues upon which Congress' influence is theoretically debatable BUT was a promise made none-the-less)...

Answer 2

I would grade them on the basis of "what have you done for me lately?"

Only one politician ever did anything for me or my family and I would support him for higher office.