44, Day 73: Success! Of a Kind.

An ongoing log of the daily activities of the 44th president of the United States during his first 100 days:

-With pledges of $1 trillion in stimulus spending and the denial of global financial regulation, President Obama left the Group of 20 meeting in London with what he said he wanted to achieve. Never mind that the spending will be aimed at stimulating developing nations rather than Western consumers, as Obama had wanted. Most of the money, $750 billion, will come in the form of pledges to the International Monetary Fund to help developing countries with troubled economies. The 20 largest economies also pledged $250 billion to encourage international trade. "The point is that the G20 did what they could -- which of necessity will have more impact on smaller nations reliant on IMF bailouts than it will on huge economies like that of the U.S.," econoblogger Felix Salmon concluded. "But every trillion dollars helps -- that's still a serious amount of money." G20 also agreed to sanction tax havens, discuss tougher global financial regulation, and meet again in New York in September to check on progress.

-Back in Washington, the president was notching another mixed victory. Congress approved his $3.5 trillion budget that includes bold initiatives on health care, the environment, and stimulating the economy. Leavening the bill's passage was the complete lack of any support from Republicans, again undercutting Obama's hope of bridging the partisan divide.

-Next up for President Obama is a meeting of NATO leaders in Strasbourg, France, on Friday. Ostensibly, the gathering will mark the 60th anniversary of the Western military alliance. But some contend that the real talk will be about NATO's military mission in Afghanistan -- its first outside Europe -- is failing in a way that risks fracturing the alliance.

by Mark Stein

Sources: BBC, Reuters.com, The Washington Post, and The New York Times.