Promises made should be promises kept, and President Obama made some audacious promises during his historic run for office. He promised to pass health care reform legislation, close Guantanamo Bay within a year, and bring the men and women of the military home from Iraq.

Some of those promises have worked out better than others.

With President Obama's one-year anniversary upon us, let's take a look at what he promised and what he was actually able to accomplish.

Promise: Close Guantanamo Bay within a year
President Obama said that the detention facility for "enemy combatants" who were held without due process, or any of the other rights, "diminished" the United States' standing in the world. For a minute, it looked like Obama was off to a rip-roaring start on the issue. A couple of days after taking office, hr signed executive orders to close the facility.



Reality: The January deadline has come and gone, but Obama is still working on the issue. Closing the detention center proved much more difficult than previously thought. The United States had to figure out where to house the prisoners and other countries were not anxious to take them in. Congress stripped the bill that would fund the closing. With the recent attempt to blow up a U.S.- bound plane on Christmas Day, closing the center is causing even more political furor as some of the planners are believed to have been released from Guantanamo.

Status: In October, Congress approved a plan that would allow Obama to temporarily house some former inmates on U.S. soil. "We are on a path and a process where I would anticipate that Guantanamo will be closed next year," Obama said. "I'm not going to set an exact date because a lot of this is also going to depend on cooperation from Congress."

Promise: Pass Health care reform
President Obama repeatedly called health care reform his "top domestic priority," and Republicans lined up to use the issue to derail his presidency. There were ugly battles along party lines, with conservatives and some commentators accusing Obama of trying to "socialize" medicine and institute "death panels" for the elderly.

Reality: On Christmas Eve, the Senate passed a version of health care reform, following the lead of their colleagues in the House. All 58 Democrats and the two Independents that caucus with them voted in favor of the bill, which received no Republican support. Although the two bills are substantially different, the Senate bill does not have a public option for health insurance. If the bill passes, Obama will have accomplished what seven previous president's failed to do.

Status: The House and the Senate have to reconcile their two versions of the bill and that just got a little more difficult because Democrats have lost their majority in the Senate. Democrat Martha Coakley lost to Republican Scott Brown in the Massachusetts Senate election. Democrats and the White House have said they believe they can still pass the bill without the supermajority to override Republican technical maneuvering. "We're right on course. We will have a health care reform bill, and it will be soon," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. "Whatever happens in Massachusetts, we will have quality, affordable health care for all Americans." That remains to be seen.


Promise: Bring troops home from Iraq
President Obama's promise to bring troops home from the Iraq war in 16 months "safely and responsibly" won him a lot of votes and was one of the ways he differentiated himself from Republicans John McCain and former President George W. Bush. "Barack Obama will work with military commanders on the ground in Iraq and in consultation with the Iraqi government to end the war safely and responsibly within 16 months," said Obama's campaign Web site. "Barack Obama had the courage and judgment to oppose the war from the beginning, warning against undetermined cost, length and consequences."



Reality: In February, Obama announced a plan to bring American troops home by the end of August of this year. "Let me say this as plainly as I can: By August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end," said Obama.

Status: Even though our combat mission in Iraq will end that doesn't mean our troop presence there will. At least 50,000 troops will remain in Iraq and will remain open to attack. There has recently been an uptick in violence in Iraq with suicide bombings and explosions.

Promise: Focus on the war in Afghanistan
With troops divided between two major fronts in Iraq and Afghanistan, candidate Obama said the U.S. was missing the point. "Barack Obama opposed fragmenting our troops to fight a war in Iraq, instead advocating that we should focus on Bin Laden and al Qaeda in Afghanistan," reported Obama's campaign site.

Reality: After conferring with his advisers for a couple of months, during which time he was accused of dithering by former vice president Dick Cheney, Obama, in November, ordered 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. This followed a troop increase of about 17,000 that Obama ordered in February of 2009.

Status: Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he expects 92 percent of those 30,000 troops to be on the ground by the end of August.

Promise: Review mandatory-minimum sentencing guidelines
This is an issue that strongly affects African Americans. Mandatory-minimum sentences remove discretion from judges to decide sentences based on the circumstances before them. Mandatory-minimum sentences based on things such as the amount of drugs a person is in possession of remove the ability of judges to look at extenuating circumstances.

Reality:

From Obama's and Biden's Web site:

There are at least 171 mandatory-minimum provisions in federal criminal
statutes. According to the United States Sentencing Commission, in (fiscal year)2006, 33,636 counts of conviction carried a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment, affecting 20,737 offenders. Most of these counts of conviction – 82.9 percent – were for drug offenses. Black and Hispanic offenders make up the overwhelming majority of individuals convicted under a mandatory minimum sentence. A RAND study found that mandatory minimum sentences are less effective than discretionary sentencing and drug treatment in reducing drug-related crime, and every leading expert body in criminal justice has opposed the use of mandatory minimum sentences,including the Sentencing Commission, the Judicial Conference, the American Bar Association, and leading criminal justice scholars.

Status: A defense bill that Obama signed in October orders a review of mandatory-minimum sentencing, according to PolitiFact.com. The site writes: The report is to contain: a compilation of all mandatory minimum sentencing provisions under federal law; an assessment of the effect of those sentencing provisions on the goal of eliminating unwarranted sentencing disparity and other goals of sentencing; an assessment of the impact of mandatory minimum sentencing provisions on the federal prison population; an assessment of how mandatory minimum sentencing provisions affect plea agreements; a detailed research study of the effect of mandatory minimum penalties; and a discussion of alternatives to mandatory minimum sentencing laws. It will be the first significant review of federal sentencing laws by the Sentencing Commission since 1991.

Promise: Step up enforcement of civil rights laws
Being the first African American president and a lawyer, expectations about how Obama would handle civil rights was running high. On Obama's and Biden's Web site, the two promised to beef up civil rights enforcement. ..."(F)ifty years after the creation of a Civil Rights Division, our nation's leading antidiscrimination agencies have become more politicized than ever before, have seen their budgets slashed and have shifted their enforcement priorities away from traditional civil rights cases.Barack Obama and Joe Biden will restore and build upon our nation's commitment to equal justice and opportunity for all. Specifically, he will (1) restore professionalism to the Civil Rights Division and reinvigorate federal civil rights enforcement."




Status: Obama has made solid steps toward this goal. According to PolitiFact.com:

The Obama administration has begun making good on this promise, beginning with a civil rights enforcement memo issued by the acting assistant attorney general for civil rights, Loretta King, on July 10, 2009. The memo to the civil rights officers and directors in every federal agency outlined new procedures for helping the Justice Department "in a renewed effort to ensure the consistent and effective enforcement of Title VI," the Civil Rights Act.

And, last week, at Rev. Jesse Jackson's Wall Street Project, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Thomas E. Perez announced a new division within the Justice Department that will focus solely on enforcing fair lending practices .