Obama's List and Scorecard

“The Obameter Scorecard

• Promise Kept 122

• Compromise 39

• Promise Broken 22

• Stalled 82

• In the Works 238

• Not yet rated 3”

“Observing a new U.S. administration, President Obama advances a shift in government spending priorities that should result in a new definition of outcomes.

 

President Obama’s stated outcomes are [3]:

1.       Alternative energy production doubled in three years

2.       75% of federal buildings modernized and improved

3.       2,000,000 American homes made energy efficient 100% of all medical records

computerized

4.       Schools equipped as twenty-first century classrooms

5.       Broadband access expanded

6.       Science, research, and technology invested made to advance medical breakthroughs,

new discoveries, new industries

 

This list can be vastly improved, and with more crispness added, by applying smart data thinking. Smarter outcomes will be achieved from smarter data in the United States by

achieving:

1.       Energy independence by a guaranteed certain by the following means in

specified percentage allocation.

2.       Full employment at specified % of unemployment by a guaranteed certain date.

3.        Increased manufacturing capability and production of more goods made in America by specified amount, by industry type with specified consumption and export targets.

4.       Increased border security at a specified percentage with a specified percent reduction in illegal immigration and specified deportation of illegal aliens.

5.       Military capacity to fight and win specified threats at specified levels with superiority.

6.       Access to healthcare of equal to or greater quality than currently available to all Americans at specified expense and in specified mix of public and private healthcare capacity.

7.       Specified amounts of investment in specified fields of research and development for the purpose of achieving specified goals and objectives.

8.       Reduced greenhouse gases by specified amount in specified time frame.

 

Now, you may say these lists require a lot more data to be specific, which is exactly correct. Let’s take just one subject from Obama’s list and compare it to the same subject with smart data thinking applied.

The Obama plan calls for “Alternative energy production doubled in three years.”

 

If alternative energy production is minuscule today compared with the demand, doubling it in three years may be insignificant or may be much less than what is needed in rate and volume of production to make a difference that realizes benefit for all.

 

Is not the desired outcome for the United States to achieve energy independence by a date certain by the various alternatives and allocated in specified percentages?

 

Should not the quantities be based on known demand and facts about alternative development and availability, as well as competition?

 

Pressing for data facts and meaning is a part of the smart data strategy that begins with how the executive defines the outcomes. The Obama administration inherited obligations and has limits on discretion and department and agency processes and a government framework that is fixed by the U.S. Constitution. Knowing the precise

starting position is essential.

 

What isn’t fixed, and in fact is broken, is the financial system that provides capital for industry and government. Fixing this requires government and private sector collaboration among government and commercial enterprises in a global environment.”