Agenda

At approximately 11:56 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on January 20, 2009 - The oath of office as President of the United States of America was administered by the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, The Honorable John G. Roberts, Jr. to Barack Hussein Obama, on the steps of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, DC. With that oath, Barack Obama became the 44th President of the United States, our first Black president, and not incidentally the inheritor of what can, in redneck speak, probably be called the biggest bucket of worms in American history.

Mr. Obama might do well to remember that of the two previous presidents he holds in such high esteem and evidently hopes to emulate, history considers Abraham Lincoln to be America’s first dictator, while Franklin D. Roosevelt is considered to be the second. He might also remember that he faces a situation eerily similar to those of Lincoln and FDR, in that if they could solve the problems that faced the nation upon their assuming office, they would be considered among Americas greatest Presidents. But if they had failed, both had a very good chance of being America’s last president. Lincoln is obviously Obama's favorite president, and they have many positions in common: -- They both believe that levying more taxes is the way to economic recovery. -- They both believe the Constitution is a living document that allows them more flexibility and greater presidential powers. -- They both believe in big government. Of the more or less conventional problems facing the new administration, we find the war in Iraq and the worldwide economic downturn leading the pack. To these two I would think we might want to add the ongoing “corruption in government” situation as well. The Obama/Biden regime has announced their political agenda (http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/) for the next few years, which seems to be a composite of many sacred cows, in that it contains a little something for almost everybody. It also leaves me with a number of serious questions. First of course, is just how does the government intend to pay for what appears on the surface to be a multi-trillion dollar social services program? Are we to borrow even more money from China and the Arabic world, or just print a few more train loads of cash? Secondly, do we really want such a vast expansion in the influence government has over our daily lives? Finally, if you think we’re buried in federal bureaucracy now, wait till you see the paperwork snowstorm these programs will generate! We were promised change, and it appears that we’re going to get it, in spades.

Overall, the essential idea is a massive investment of federal funding in America. That certainly is a fine sounding idea that nobody could possibly object to, right? But I will ask, what federal funds? Where are they to come from? I seem to remember that when President Bush suggested cutting taxes, the democrats were quite hysterical about how that would cause the cutting back of so many beloved social programs! Now however, with the republicans being out of power, the democrats are going to cut taxes for 95% of the American population and still invest a trillion dollars? We’re going to computerize America’s medical records? A safe claim I guess, as most of them already are. But if we have such a hard time securing the Defense Department and Veterans Affairs computers now, how are we going to keep the hackers out of our medical records? Apparently we’re going to equip “tens of thousands of schools, community colleges, and public universities with 21st century classrooms, labs, and libraries”, so that America will lead the world in science and technology. Following the scientific boom days of Kennedy/Johnson, the democrats have had a pretty poor track record on supporting science research, and this isn’t going to be cheap either!

The claim is that President Obama has been a strong advocate for sound budget practices and the reduction of wasteful spending in Washington. How do we know? After all, he has no congressional track record to indicate where he stands, and the democratic party has never been known for not wanting to spend bales government money, unless that spending was a republican idea in the first place. They claim he is committed to fiscal transparency and accountability. He wants to ensure that “tax cuts and spending commitments are paid for without burdening our children and grandchildren with excessive debt.” Humm… that’s definitely a change for the democrats! We’re going to end the war in Iraq and Afghanistan or so the claims go, while increasing troop strength in Afghanistan, and of course modernizing the Armed Forces… Modernizing the military and winning the War on Terror? Just try getting that past Reid and Pelosi! We’re also going to spend hundreds of billions on small business improvements, make two million American homes energy efficient, build an alternative energy network, and not incidentally reduce global warming. (Right now, the climate change question argued among the scientists is, are we actually warming up, or are we cooling down?) The democratic plan for the next few years sounds all well and fine, or at least it hasn’t totally antagonized the republicans yet. But to this old realist it also sounds somewhat like a utopian pipe dream, and I’m very much afraid that with it, this country is being led down the primrose path to European style socialism!

And we still have that dark cloud hovering over Mr. Obama himself. Foremost in a good many minds is the question of Mr. Obama’s qualification to be our president. Most Americans accept that he is a “natural born” American citizen, and thus is qualified to hold office. Quite a few others however, seriously question his natural born status, and thus the legitimacy of his presidency. Then there are those who quite frankly “don’t know” and are waiting for somebody, preferably the Supreme Court, to make a decision and lay the question to rest. In my case, I’m one of the “don’t know” group and will be rather uneasy with the entire situation until we get a final decision. The left of course blames this mess on radical right “dirty politics” and right leaning conspiracy theorists who would believe anything. In return, the far right points out the left’s clumsy attempt to bring John McCain’s citizenship into question during the campaign, and with that they consider Obama to be at the center of a nefarious plot to take over the nation. And there's the rub. It is of course quite possible that Mr. Obama conspired his way into the world's most powerful office. But we should also remember that doing so would involve a network of people and government agencies spread over three separate nations, working together in complete secrecy, over a long period of time. But then, in today’s world almost anything's possible.

We shall see I guess, but in the meantime I’ll agree with the bumper sticker that says “I’ll keep my freedom, money, and guns… you can keep the change.”