First 50 Days? Huh?

I had to chuckle when I saw that Politico was grading President Biden on his first 50 days, not his first 100 days. Talk about jumping the gun. The conventional view is that you wait until at least the first 100 days. Where’d this first 100 days standard come from? It came about when FDR began rolling out programs that made up his New Deal, including 15 major pieces of legislation in the first 100 days. This then became the yardstick by which all U.S. presidents and other executives were judged. Actually it applies to most everything — your first job, your new neighborhood, your first client, your first 100 days of a marriage or partnership, your first time parenting. Three months plus a few days gives you a decent dry run and prevents a snap judgement that could be faulty.

It seems that Politico is not the only media jumping the gun on evaluating President Biden at his early half way mark. According to fivethirtyeight, the President has a 53.2% approval rate on day 50. Other outlets such as NBC News and Axios are also touting the 50-day-mark with Biden’s above average 50% rating.

When I have written about CEOs before, I have described how those first 100 days have become increasingly compressed such as we are seeing now. Everyone wants to know your future strategy on day One. That is wildly not realistic nor does it give you time to hear people out and listen well. But 100 days seems to me to be the fair amount of time to have a first impression. And first impressions account for a lot.

Interestingly, vice presidents do not seem to get hit with a similar judgement day. I do not recall VP Biden or VP Pence being judged similarly. It’s all about the guy or gal at the top and everyone else is plain noise.

Here’s to Biden’s next 50 days! May it end the Covid-19 crisis, get the economy back on track and provide social justice for us all.