By Jenna Duncan, News Staff

Yesterday’s panel discussion ‘The Obama Presidency:’ Rising or Falling Star’ packed 20 West Village F, though the panelists never reached a final conclusion about President Barack Obama’s past eight months in office.
The panelists were political science professors Robert Gilbert, Bill Mayer and Michael Dukakis, a former Massachusetts governor and 1988 Democratic presidential candidate, each speaking briefly about high and low points of Obama’s presidency.
Gilbert, who teaches American Presidency, began by evaluating the high points of Obama’s presidency, and although he never specified if he though Obama was a ‘rising star,’ he had eight high points while only three major criticisms.
‘I do think the positives outweigh the negatives in this presidency,’ he said.
He commended Obama’s decisiveness while choosing white house staff, and made that a priority over his cabinet.
‘The cabinet as a body does not really function as an important advisory group where as the white house staff does,’ Gilbert said.
He also said that Obama’s transition into office was smooth, and began work quickly by reversing some of former President George W. Bush’s executive orders, and immediately implementing a stimulus package.
‘It is the biggest investment in the infrastructure of the United States since Eisenhower, and also this is one of the biggest investments in education in decades,’ he said.
This point was the most disputed amongst the panelists.
Though Gilbert said he thought the stimulus bill was helpful, Mayer said that the bill wasn’t timely and has not solved anything, especially since the majority of spending won’t occur until next year.
‘This mistake will linger and make it much harder to pass the health care bill,’ Mayer said.
Dukakis said he disagreed with this point. Though he believes the economy is a large issue, he said he didn’t think it would affect health care reform.
‘I think he’s going to get a health care bill, and I think it’s going to be a very good health care bill,’ he repeated throughout the session.
Dukakis said the major problems blocking the bill don’t involve the stimulus bill, however. Rather, it is a lack of leadership by Obama as well as democrats who aren’t willing to compromise anything on the bill.
‘In my view, the democrats have to get their act together,’ he said. ‘They have to have a consensus plan that at least has all the support from democrats as well as independents.’
The other large topic was Obama’s foreign relations. All three agreed he is making headway, though Mayer said that his popularity across borders did not translate into improving relations.
‘(In Europe), they like him and wanted their picture with him, but they weren’t willing to do anything,’ he said.
After each panelist spoke, there was a 20-minute question and answer section, which covered topics such as recently-named Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and predictions for presidential nominees in 2012 including former Massachusetts governor and presidential nominee Mitt Romney.
Also, some questions were expansions on sections of the lecture, such as bipartisanship in health care reform.
All of the panelists had mixed reviews of Obama, however, they all agreed that Obama has had some high points in his eight months.
‘On the whole I think he’s doing okay,’ Dukakis said. ‘It’s a complicated world, and these challenges aren’t easy.’