Obama under spotlight on his 100th day in office

It may not be a real milestone, but it will be very difficult to miss. As Barack Obama completes his first 100 days in office on Wednesday, you will be bombarded with even more reports dissecting every aspect of his presidency.

“This is, as many in our administration have described, a little bit of a hallmark holiday,” White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said in an appearance on NBC's Meet the Press programme on Sunday.

How does the president want Americans to judge him? Gibbs was asked. The president, he said, “would want the American people to spend a good eight or 10 seconds reflecting on those 100 days.”

“We're focused not on what might have happened in the first 100 days, but what has to happen to lay that foundation for economic growth and moving our country forward," he said.

That's not to say there will be no events to mark the day. Obama will speak — and answer questions — at a town-hall meeting in a suburb of St Louis, Missouri, in the morning and then fly back to Washington to hold a news conference. According to NBC's count, that will be Obama's eighth town-hall meeting and his 11th news conference (and the third one in prime time).

To top it all, Congress might pass Obama's budget by the big day.