Obama marks whirlwind first 100 days in office

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Barack Obama on Wednesday will mark the 100th day of his presidency after a whirlwind start in which he has signaled a new approach on policies from the economy to climate change to U.S. relations with Iran.

Some have used the milestone to assess Obama's policies, even as analysts cautioned it was too soon to say whether his long list of initiatives will yield success.

While dismissing the 100-day milestone as an artificial gauge created by the media, the White House is nonetheless putting a spotlight on it with high-profile events.

Those include a visit by Obama to Arnold, Missouri, near St. Louis, for a town-hall style event and a televised news conference at the White House at 8 p.m. EDT/0000 GMT.

The popular U.S. president, whose approval ratings are above 60 percent, will likely use the events to push his agenda for overhauling health care, fixing the troubled banking sector, rescuing U.S. automobile companies, combating global warming and pursuing greater engagement abroad.

Looming large as well for Obama is a flu outbreak that has presented him with his first public health emergency and a simmering controversy over his decision to release classified documents detailing harsh interrogations of terrorism suspects during the Bush administration.

The tradition of marking the first 100 days of U.S. presidencies dates back to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who trumpeted his ability to push through 15 pieces of major legislation in that time period after taking office in 1933 in the midst of the Great Depression.

Though none of Roosevelt's successors have yet matched the activity of his first few months in the White House, there remains a fascination in the media with the gauge. link...