A presumed milestone — Barack Obama’s first 100 days as President –  will be marked on Wednesday, which has already elicited a flood of media commentary.   This would be the case regardless of who became President last January 20, and regardless of the state of the country and the world.

But this is no ordinary president and these are clearly not ordinary times.  The media and political worlds understand this and have therefore decided (consciously or not) to devote even more attention to the polls and pronouncements marking the milestone.

How well is Obama doing, they all demand to know.  What are the successes and failures of his first 100 days?  What have we learned about him and what has he learned about this job that holds such responsibility and influence that no one comes to it fully prepared?

Let it first be said that these 100 days have alarmed and challenged the United States and the world, in ways that Obama and the rest of us could scarcely have imagined when he began his race for the White House.  After winning his party’s nomination, Obama had to watch as the U.S. economy fell into its deepest calamity since the Great Depression.  The failure of the country’s largest banks and financial houses, the collapse of its automobile industry, the disintegration of the mortgage and housing markets, and the rise in unemployment combined to create a kind of perfect economic storm that was raging around the U.S. and the rest of the world even as he took his oath of office last January.

Beyond America’s shores, terrorists had struck India’s largest city, while the country they came from, Pakistan, quickly lost control of much of its own territory.  Afghanistan sank further into chaos and corruption.

These were not garden variety crises that Barack Obama faced on entering the White House.  As one commentator noted, George W. Bush marked his 100 day milestone in 2001 by inviting members of Congress to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave and most of those invited didn’t show up.  Bill Clinton had a fairly low-grade event at his 100-day mark.  “W” passed his first spring as President promoting his “No Child Left Behind” school standards.  Soon enough we all learned what was left behind.

Should we now be relieved that Obama is now trying to make up for lost time?  That he is pushing ahead at warp speed on health care, climate change, renewable energy, and major educational investments even as he is forced to deal with the current economic crisis?

I think the answer must be yes, even though it is clear from the performance of his Administration that blunders have been made and will continue to be made.  The TARP bailout moneys and the billions of dollars given General Motors and Chrysler LLC were granted in haste to executives  who had badly mismanaged their industries.  Haste made waste.  Also, as many have pointed out, Treasury Secretary Geithner came from this milieu.  Now he bears major responsibility for reforming it.  Although Obama made some inspired choices for his cabinet (State, Defense, DHS, Energy, DCI), HHS and Commerce were badly mangled.

In foreign affairs, the major problems Obama inherited in southwest Asia are emerging as Obama’s fundamental strategic challenge and it is not clear that even the force of nature that is Richard Holbrooke can resolve the weakness of Pakistan and the corruption of Afghanistan.  The Al Qaeda connection — responsible for our military engagement in the first place — is now obscured by the multiple crises affecting the governments whose territory hosts the terrorists.

Nonetheless, Obama has done much in his first 100 days that has benefited the country and the world.  He is at once a visionary and a pragmatist.  As Fareed Zakaria points out, Obama has changed the American political landscape, including how Americans view the role of government.  The NYT notes that even attitudes on race have changed for the better as a result of Obama.  If his Administration were a book or a movie, the reviews could scarcely be better:

“A new reasonable balance between national security and human rights” — The Economist

“A strong and decisive leader” — USA Today

“An impressive and potent combination of confidence, articulateness, brains, and stage awareness” — Newsweek

Perhaps we ascribe too much significance to a milestone that, after all, is a legacy from a completely different era — that of FDR’s Depression-era beginnings 76 years ago.  But now, as then, we look for some sign of forward progress.  A report card on “hope.”  We cannot yet say what kind of presidency this will be, but we can say what kind it has the potential to become.  These have not been 100 days that shook the world, but rather reassured it.

How does one turn a policy around?  Speaking to a student audience in Ankara a few days ago, Barack Obama described it as a “slow process.”

“States are like big tankers, they’re not like speedboats,” he said.  “You can’t just whip them around and go in a new direction. Instead you’ve got to slowly move it and then eventually you end up in a very different place.”

The maritime metaphor seems particularly apt today as we witness — literally — speedboats filled with Somali pirates attacking large, international cargo vessels.  A tanker may set a new course and still be vulnerable to small, unpredictable challenges from unknown directions.

In the same way, following a remarkable week-long journey to Europe (and Iraq), Barack Obama’s ship of state is indeed pointing toward a new course that it has not yet achieved, which exposes it to risk.  Some have defined Obama’s foreign policy as anti-Bush, others have claimed that it actually shows more continuity with “W’s” final policy course.

Neither one is a fair description of where Obama is headed or how he is maneuvering there.

Today, to take the latest example, the President announced a substantial change in policy toward Cuba.  Cuban-Americans will be allowed to travel to Cuba without restrictions and American telecom companies can freely enter the Cuban market.  Not all barriers to trade and travel are dropped, but it is a beginning.  Accompanied by less provocative rhetoric (on both sides), this distinct policy change is neither a repudiation or evolution of Bush’s Cuba policy, but a new course entirely.

North Korea, another jittering speedboat stirring up international waters, also gets a new sort of treatment from the Obama Administration.  Under Bush, the United States would have surely reacted to Kim Jong Il’s rocket launch with tough rhetoric but perhaps without enough political consensus to unite other members of the six-party talks in any joint action.  Today, at the United Nations, the UNSC at least approved a statement that should tighten sanctions on Pyongyang.  Not a solution by any means, but a step in the right direction.

Obama’s judicious approach to foreign policy draws a difference between formulation and execution.  His oft-quoted remark about Iraq, that he would be as “careful getting out of Iraq as the Bush Administration was careless about getting in,” suggests the approach that Obama has taken on other issues, such as closing Guantanamo or negotiating with Iran.  A policy goal may be declared quickly and without much fanfare, then implemented over a period of months if not years.

Of course, there are crises in which decisions must be taken and carried out quickly, as when a speedboat full of pirates captures an American vessel and crew.  Obama took quick action that enjoyed success (and luck).  A brave captain and crew are returning home because of this.  For this reason, now is a good time to be aboard the S.S. Obama as it makes its course corrections.