Thursday, November 6, 2008

CHANGE AND EXPECTATIONS AND REALITY

We Americans have elected an African American as President of the United States of America. Or African-American. It is a momentous, monumental day. One certainly for the history books. But wait! (I love this term as used in infomercials for an extra deal coming up.) President-elect Obama will have to navigate waters with no navigational experience. He needs to hire thousands of people, or to hire 50 or 100 who will be capable of hiring thousands. He has no experience in hiring. But in his first management role, as leader of his campaign, he hired David Plouffe as campaign manager and David Axelrod as campaign strategist, he performed brilliantly as did they. It was an almost-perfect campaign and accomplished the endgame. An excellent start.

But his choice of cabinet heads, staff and others will highlight the quality of his presidency and whether or not his campaign of "Change" was only rhetoric for the election or whether he will truly govern with bi-partisan excellence and for America as a whole. Stand against him are myriad phalanx of strong forces. Those who paid for his election. Labor union leaders; trial lawyers; environmentalists; ACLU-ists; farmers; blacks and other minorities: racial, sexual and otherwise; Move-on.orgiests; government-dictated healthcare advocates; Bush-, Republican- and free-market-haters; and anti-strong-militarists. This is a rotten stew of agents who only want to change everything America stands for: rational, free-market capitalism. Each will be wanting a payoff. Each will continue to fight tooth and nail for what they selfishly desire. Check California's Proposition 8 to roll back legal gay marriage by changing its constitution to define "marriage" as only between a man and a woman (one each, I imagine.) The electorate has spoken. Not. The usual special-interests, here the American Civil Liberties Union, Lamda Legal and the National Center for Lesbian Rights, joined by the San Francisco City Attorney, Dennis Herrera, filed a writ petition with the California Supreme Court to invalidate vote of the people. And will it be that way with each special interest during Obama's presidency? Will they fight, sue, opine, buy news reports, claw, sue, sue and sue again, anything to get their way? If history is a guide, yes. That bodes ill for a President Obama.

And the populace -- the voters -- is expecting no more rancor. Calm. A smooth transition. Easier lives with incomes increasing from benign labor unions, business atrocities abated, the stock market rising and gas prices declining. And presto! 100% graduation rates for African-Americans, free healthcare, less crime, no racial bigotry. And opportunity -- or equality? -- for all.

And finally, Congress. The number of Democrats in Congress was increased. It will be touted as a mandate to satisfy all the pent-up demand for government to do everything, while paying for it on the backs of the "rich". All the above and more. Infrastructure, high-paying jobs, easy home loans (again), lower credit card interest rates, government-financed healthcare for all (except the "rich"), a solvent Social Security and real retirement security for the AARP-derly (that's elderly)(except the "rich"), the deficit, such a vice while Republicans were creating it (and Clinton was president), will become a necessity...an FDR-type virtue. The unique characters of Congress, Nancy Pelosi (shrill San Franciscan Liberal), Harry Reid (strong hand in Senate) , David Obey (Appropriations and military dove); John Conyers (House Judiciary who wants trials of all Bushies and slavery reparations); Barney Frank (Chair of Fannie Mae and demanding a 25% cut in military spending), Christopher Dodd (the other Chair of Fannie Mae); George Miller (House Education and Labor who is looking to tax 401(k)s and generally nationalize private pensions); Charles Rangel, of hiding-income-from-taxes-because-I-forgot-I-owned-the-Dominican-Republic-rental-house-fame (and who wants to bring back the draft); Chuck Schumer; Pete Stark (who thinks all profits in healthcare are corrupt, being head of a key Health subcommittee in the House. Single-payor Canadian healthcare anyone?); Henry Waxman (scandal monger extraordinaire looking to elbow out moderate Democrat John Dingell, as Chair in Energy and Commerce plus steep energy taxes to combat global warming) among a cast of hundreds will by vying for opportunity, for power. And isn't this what the election all about? Power. Campaigned into the hands of the far-Left to the detriment of free-markets and self-control and self-responsibility and achievement. And he won with the Big Lie: "tax cuts for 95% of Americans" to create jobs from the bottom up. Jobs can't be built from giving the "middle class" a little extra to spend.

Good luck President Obama, and I truly mean that. I want you and our country to succeed.

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