Ever since Franklin Roosevelt took office as president in 1933, historians and students of public policy have closely watched a presidents first 100 days.
Roosevelt did so much, so fast, to save the nation as the Depression put its iron fisted grip on the American people that his first 100 days came to be viewed as the ultimate 100 days a president could have in terms of affecting the nation positively.
Mayor Judith Flanagan-Kennedy’s first 100 days ended last week.
The city remains solvent.
The tax rate remains steady.
City services have not diminished and in all, the city is moving along quite smoothly.
If we were scoring Flanagan-Kennedy’s first 100 days as a baseball game, we’d score it thusly: no hits, no runs, no errors,
Right now, her slate remains clean and untarnished.
She has not yet made the kind of tough decisions that divides factions or creates backlash.
At some point, she will be called upon to do just that. Then she will learn how tough the job can be when so many people representing so many different constituencies come to her asking for benefits, favors or for the city’s financial backing.
The national economy remains soft and the local economy is a reflection of that.
The state needs to create jobs and fast or the Lynns of our world will buckle under.
Sooner or later, the mayor will have to address the coming municipal employee health care premium disaster.
She will also be forced to pay back her supporters during the election, especially her buddies in the fire department who made her candidacy their mission and who contributed so much to her stunning victory.
Flanagan-Kennedy’s first 100 days are notable because of their stability.
After all, what’s better than stability?