This story was originally published on nationaljournal.com on April 24, 2017 It is absolutely true that there is nothing special about a new president’s first 100 days. It is an arbitrary and artificial construct, a metric set up long ago that is now codified, like marathons being 26.2 miles. Just as Kim Kardashian is famous for being famous, the first 100 days is important because it is important. NPR senior editor and longtime political observer Ron Elving says that the first-100-day marker “is now with us permanently like a Hallmark holiday.” In American politics, the first-100-day marker was set down by Franklin Roosevelt. It then took on greater resonance with John Kennedy’s line in his inaugural address: “All this will not be finished in the first 100 days. Nor will it be finished in the first 1,000 days … nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.” The Washington Post’s Kristine Phillips offered more first-100-day history, recounting that President Lyndon Johnson told his congressional liaison chief Larry O’Brien to “jerk out every damn little bill
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