We asked a variety of local luminaries, and other folks around Bakersfield, to grade President Barack Obama's first year in office before Wednesday's anniversary. After about 11 months in office, Obama gave himself "a good, solid B+." Here's what locals had to say at one year: Bill Thomas, retired congressman Grade: Incomplete Thoughts: "We've ended the first session of the first Congress when he was president," said Thomas, Bakersfield's longtime Republican representative before his retirement in early 2007, referring to the session that ended Dec.