...so, then what?
We are under two weeks before we elect either Sen. Obama or Sen. McCain. The polls look good and are trending to Obama it seems. There are a few polls that show the race closer, so no one should be secure yet. Of course, we will all think our hair is on fire if McCain does pull a win. For the sake of argument, however, let's assume Sen. Obama becomes President-Elect. So, then what?
Better to be "in the game" than not in such a situation is how I view it. Now think of other gains for us middle class folks. Finally we will get some solution to the high cost of 47 million Americans without health insurance. We will get tax relief. By my calculation, I would get zero increase in tax relief under McCain's plan. Under Obama's plan, I would save about $900. Obama will stimulate job creation in the US by rewarding companies that create jobs here instead of running to another country, such as Halliburton. Congress and Obama will make it easier for American workers to join unions, if they want to do so.
We will also have a President who believes in science and will work toward a global solution to climate change. We will also move toward greener technologies for energy and conservation, which will benefit us all and make our nation more secure. We will make progress on stem cell research to cure diseases.
We will move forward on equal federal benefits for LGBT couples. We will at least not increase the number of conservative jurists on the Supreme Court and will increase the number of more progressive jurists on the lower courts. We will close Guantanamo. We will end our war in Iraq. We will rejoin the community of nations.
Okay, I've missed some things, so help me out. Imagine this beginning in less than two weeks.
In the future, Obama may well look back and wonder whether the 2008 election was such a good one to win. The new president will inherit not merely the debilitating US military commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan but also a stock market bruised and battered, a weak dollar, a banking system in ruins and a domestic economy in the doldrums - and that is just the optimistic scenario. If Obama does indeed find himself the occupant of the White House, much of his administration probably will be devoted to rebuilding the banking system. With the economy in recession, house prices in free fall and homeowners struggling, there will be little scope or appetite for the ambitious programmes that liberals expect from their candidate.Nevertheless, even though FDR did not end the Great Depression after his first term, many people were doing better and things were not as bad as they had been. FDR, rightly or wrongly, got a lot of credit for that. A President Obama would get some credit for any upturn in the economy, regardless whether the credit was earned.
Worse, it is hard to imagine that the economy will have recovered much by 2012, when he will face re-election. (True, it is equally hard to imagine the Republicans getting their act together and reawakening enthusiasm for hands-off conservatism in just four years, though stranger things have happened.) [New Statesman]
Better to be "in the game" than not in such a situation is how I view it. Now think of other gains for us middle class folks. Finally we will get some solution to the high cost of 47 million Americans without health insurance. We will get tax relief. By my calculation, I would get zero increase in tax relief under McCain's plan. Under Obama's plan, I would save about $900. Obama will stimulate job creation in the US by rewarding companies that create jobs here instead of running to another country, such as Halliburton. Congress and Obama will make it easier for American workers to join unions, if they want to do so.
We will also have a President who believes in science and will work toward a global solution to climate change. We will also move toward greener technologies for energy and conservation, which will benefit us all and make our nation more secure. We will make progress on stem cell research to cure diseases.
We will move forward on equal federal benefits for LGBT couples. We will at least not increase the number of conservative jurists on the Supreme Court and will increase the number of more progressive jurists on the lower courts. We will close Guantanamo. We will end our war in Iraq. We will rejoin the community of nations.
Okay, I've missed some things, so help me out. Imagine this beginning in less than two weeks.
I want to see so many things done, I don't know where to begin. I just hope that, if he does win, Obama doesn't fall prey to the concern trolls who will warn him to not be too progressive.
ReplyDeleteI hear what you are saying. The thing is he is running on a CHANGE platform. If he doesn't bring that change, he'll lose much of his support for the next election.
ReplyDeleteMost off-year elections favor the party out of power, so the most Democratic Congress Obama will likely have will be the next one. It was true for Clinton. He had two years and mostly blew it.
So Obama needs to enact the most controversial things early. Gets them out of the way before his own re-election. For example, the Employee Free Choice Act. Even without 60 Democrats in the Senate, he can surely find a few Republicans to cross the aisle of some of these laws. He has run on that platform as well...reaching across the aisle.
Anyway, let's get him elected first!
I just know that this country won't survive another four year under the Repulican regime. We have got to do everything we can to ensure that doesn't happen.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if anything concerns you about Obama? I'm supporting McCain but have reservations in a number of areas. I don't see where you have any doubts about Obama. Not his questionable associates, his economic plan which has changed as often as wind changes direction, taxing during a recession, raising business tax when we are already number two in the world and businesses are leaving America, sitting down with dictators without preconditions, even those who deny the Holocaust. I mean there isn't anything that worries you?
ReplyDeleteDoes anything bother you about Obama? I have my choice for pres but am not 100 percent sure of the man. You seem to be 100 percent in favor of everything Obama. There must be something you worry about?
ReplyDeleteI have doubts about ALL politicians. I gave up decades ago trying to find one I agreed with even 75% of the time.
ReplyDeleteMcCain and Palin worry me. McCain is old and Palin is not qualified, IMHO. McCain voted with GWB 90% of the time and even boasted about it. Where have Bush policies put this great nation...in one of our worst moments.
McCain has run a most negative campaign out of Karl Rove's playbook.
All this being said, I have voted Democrat 75% of my life. I only voted Republican in Georgia as a young voter, when no one in Georgia would admit to being a Republican (long time ago, huh?). Even then I never voted Republican for President. The reason I vote Democratic, is not by habit. I am a progressive/liberal/lefty, pick which term you prefer.
I feel sorry for the poor and oppressed and think our government should help them. However, even I will do better by Obama's tax plan. I am a working, middle-middle class guy. I work paycheck to paycheck and tuck as much away in my sad little retirement plan as I can. How fortunate I am, nearing retirement, that we did not privatize Social Security. Where would we all be then?