Obama's first 100 days - whaddya think?

As Obama hits his first 100 days, well, don't know that I'm exactly qualified to be judging his job, but for the issues I care most about, pretty good job. "A" for effort, certainly.

One thing I had hoped he would have by now is one of his campiagn promises to Indian country -a Native senior advisor. I figured he'd have this position filled within the 100 days - and certainly before the puppy situation was settled! I'm sure there's a lot of top positions yet to be filled, but I'm ready for the names to stop dangling in front of me (including two Alaska Native women!) and for the position to be filled! There's some good opportunities slipping by...

Still, Obama has had some Native history made already, in his first 100 days, so I suppose I should stop my complaining. From a record increase in the Indian Health Services budget to the first Native woman appointed to the top position at IHS, there's some looking up in that area. And he's not just appointing Native people to jobs serving other Native people - he's appointed some big Native guns to positions across the administration.


TAKE THE POLL TO THE RIGHT TO GIVE OBAMA YOUR OWN GRADE!
Quick and easy!

And some other Native and/or Obama first 100 days bits:



Tribal leaders attend planting of organic garden at the USDA.

Meetings in Indian country about economic stimulus (Indian Country Today,) as well as the National Congress of the American Indians page/Web site about it.

Sec. of the Interior Salazar announces $500 million for tribes in stimulus. (RezNet)

Polls on the first 100 days are pretty good for Obama, except for the torture memo thing (from the Washington Post.)

Huffington Post's collection of articles, photos on his first 100 days.

IHS mismanages... quite a bit

I spotted this last week - IHS has "mismanaged" a few dollars worth of equipment - to the tune of $16 million. But today the Anchorage Daily News had a bit more on how it affected the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium right here - about $6 million. ANTHC was not faulted for the mismanagement, it seems to be a job done by IHS nationwide.

Throughout, there seems to be a mix of not documenting what is going on, not knowing what is going on, and deception, depending what part of the nation the IHS office is. The IHS director would not characterize it as a mess - "It's complicated."

It's hard to have sympathy for this agency I have reported to my whole life. For the average Native person, IHS is like a cross between the DMV, the Bureau of Vital Statistics and some distant, yet powerful, entity deciding things about your life but wanting no input from those it serves. It's maybe a bit ironic that this agency is so strict about those it serves, but has this incredible lack of management (not just one instance, over 150 locations across the nation!) and accountability of its own.

One of the funnier (okay, it's one of those "laugh so you don't cry" kind of situations) things I've seen regarding the IHS is a letter in the National Museum of the American Indian in D.C. Now, I'm going to butcher this, totally not verbatim, but it's worth a look if you ever go there. They have a letter from the IHS written to a man who could not prove his Indian blood, his relatives were dead. He was man raised on a reservation, if my memory serves me. The letter that came back to him said essentially:

"After careful consideration, we have come to the decision that you are not an Indian."

I can only imagine what that man's reaction must have been to finding out that after all those years of living as a Native man, the government decided he wasn't one after all. I would love for them to come and tell me I am not a Tlingit woman after all - but they would have to tell me what I actually was, instead. As it is, they do not recognize that I am actually a quarter Dena'ina Athabascan - they say it's all Tlingit. If they say so, it must be true... but maybe they just misplaced those records...