Your Story : 100 Days of Obama

Joe Maggioncalde has worked at General Motors in Michigan nearly all his working life.

He's been a regular contributor to Your Story - see some of his work here.

For Obama's Inauguration, back in January, he worked with Your Story to explain what he thought Obama could do for the economy. He said then, that if anyone could turn things around, it was Barack Obama.

Now, 100 days on, he gives his thoughts again.

"This is one of those "milestones" the media uses to kill time and trees.

But what really has been accomplished?

Here in Detroit, the situation continues to decay quickly and daily.

Now GM has basically closed the doors till mid-July.

Here in Detroit we've seen nothing. Nothing. If Obama can somehow stimulate the rest of the country to the point where they feel capable of buying cars, then they'll probably build a statue of him, chisel down his nose and wash him with a hose.

Although we sang his name,

We all went hungry just the same."

Read Joe's full post on his blog.

Cynthia Harrison is an auto wife. Her husband Al works for Chrysler in Michigan and they celebrated Obama's Inauguration at home with friends.

Here's her assessment of Obama's presidency so far.

"We certainly got change, just not the sort we expected.

As a part-time college teacher, I expected to be working less after 20 years on the job, not more. But like many wives of auto workers, I have added hours where I can, to make up for the smaller paychecks my husband Al now receives.

Our factories no longer bustle with activity, and our dealerships are deserted, but our auto plants are open most days. Al, who has been an employee at Dodge Truck for 35 years, has worked 30 of the last 100 days.

He's been laid off a good part of Obama's presidency, but he still believes the right man won the office.

"Obama's personal involvement has helped Chrysler stay viable as a company so far," Al says. "If McCain had won, he would have let us hit the wall."

So while times are tough, they could be worse. It's almost certain that they will become worse. But we have Obama to thank for the reprieve, and if we can trust him to guide us through this streamlining of the auto industry, we can trust him to stay behind us if and when the bankruptcies begin.

Every week, as new waves of lay-offs occur, we wives of auto workers hold our collective breath. In my book group, there are three auto wives. One has already seen her husband forced into early retirement.

Obama seems to be everywhere at once. He's in Europe and Mexico and in the Oval Office, but he is also in Detroit, working with our governor and with the auto companies. He cares about us, and we know it. And that is some comfort in these distressing times."