Obama Won, Now What?

Aeschines

Rookie
Nov 6, 2008
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So, Obama won. Won by a landslide. Won with more than double McCain’s electoral votes, with 52 percent of the popular vote. He has a Democratic majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Has 57 Democratic Senators to the 40 Republican Senators with four as of yet undecided in the States of Georgia, Minnesota, and Alaska. If he gets the three others he will have free rein for the next two years when, historically speaking, he is unlikely to retain his majority unless he can retain his incredible support. The world’s eyes are upon us and ours are towards the future. But what exactly lies in the future? What does Obama have to do to maintain his support? What are the problems in the country, in the world, that he has to solve?

In the US we have an economic depression caused by a subprime pyramid scheme that was based on the idea that housing prices would continue to rise. This was obviously a faulty idea because eventually all empires fall. Obama will have to come up with a plan to fix the economy and I am waiting eagerly to see what he does.

We depend on foreign countries for over 55 percent of our energy. He has to come up with a plan to achieve energy independence and rid ourselves of our need for nonrenewable resources in a way that will reassure the American people that it will happen soon. The only way that this is possible in our current state would be to create a policy that would lower the gas prices as this is how the average person judges the state of our oil dependency.

We have to develop cleaner forms of energy, get off fossil fuels, use wind power, water power, solar power, and yes even nuclear power. We need to stop polluting and even though the amount of green house gasses have been building up to the crisis point we are at now for centuries. Stopping pollution will not automatically reverse what happened but it will limit the effects, it will keep it from getting worse. This is a must. The polar ice caps are melting to the point where polar bears have been put on the endangered species list. The oceans are expected to rise forty inches flooding coastal cities all over the world.

The world’s opinion of the US has been steadily decreasing for the past eight years. We need to earn back their faith in us. We have already taken the first step in that process simply by electing Barack Obama on November 4, 2008 but we still have a long way to go. There have been many Anti-US rallies since we started our so called “War on Terror” most recently in Damascus, Syria to protest the bombing that the current administration says killed a man who was responsible for smuggling fighters into Iraq. The attack also killed eight unarmed civilians who had not done anything to provoke it. Collateral damage. This is not the only attack with such collateral damage. We have blown up schools, blown up hospitals, killed children, killed the sick, killed the bedridden and the cancerous. More collateral damage. This is why the world fears us, why they hate us. We see the other countries citizens as unimportant and disposable, they aren’t us, they aren’t American, so they are not human. This is what the people of France and Britain, the people of Iran and Syria, the people of the world think of us.

We need to change. This is what everybody sees in Barack Obama, but will he be able to do it? This is my question. Can he do it? Is it even possible? I certainly hope so, but it will not be instantaneous. Maybe you’ll think I’m morbid. Maybe you see Obama and try not to look the horse in the mouth. But I am a realist and I see that the damage of the past will take years to fix. It will take decades to fix. Obama will only be president for a term or two. At the most he will be in charge for eight years. You must remember that electing him was just the first step, a step on the right path, but just the first step on the path. So just remember Democrats. Now we will be the ones under attack.

~ Aeschines
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Margin in Senate is actually 55-43 and 2 Independents. One indy is a socialist the other is republican leaning Leiberman. While the three races are all in recounts, the republicans are expected to win all three.

That plenty for the Republicans to block anything too outrageous. Also remember almost every democratic seat won in the past two elections are center-RIGHT democrats and no friends of the hard-left Congressional leadership. The Gang of 14 ( a collection of democratic and republican moderates) is still largely intact and their dedicated mission is to block anything extreme from either side.

Obama's biggest problem is there is simply no money to do anything with health care or energy. And he's going to be EXTREMELY limited in what he can do with taxes, as well. Simply no money to finance any kind of major social spending initiatives. The things he can do are things that will not impact the deficit much like immigration reform, shifting the war from Iraq to Afghanistan and maybe reforming the defense procurement process.
 
Zoomie, you understand my point exactly. I was in no way trying to say that he will be able to do whatever he wants. I am saying that he will not be able to make the change he promises happen, or at least he will not be able to do so quickly.

You are also absolutely right about the financial limitations being a problem. He will need to find a way to raise the money to accomplish his goals.

My point is that patience will be needed. Change takes time and it is very unlikely that the American people will give him the time he will need. As soon as he is sworn into office people will expect radical policy changes. They will expect us to be out of Iraq in months. They will expect universal heath care. They will expect clean energy. They will expect the polar ice caps to stop melting.

This will not happen. Not soon. Maybe not at all.

I am preaching patience.

~Aeschines
[email protected]
 
Zoomie, you understand my point exactly. I was in no way trying to say that he will be able to do whatever he wants. I am saying that he will not be able to make the change he promises happen, or at least he will not be able to do so quickly.

You are also absolutely right about the financial limitations being a problem. He will need to find a way to raise the money to accomplish his goals.

My point is that patience will be needed. Change takes time and it is very unlikely that the American people will give him the time he will need. As soon as he is sworn into office people will expect radical policy changes. They will expect us to be out of Iraq in months. They will expect universal heath care. They will expect clean energy. They will expect the polar ice caps to stop melting.

This will not happen. Not soon. Maybe not at all.

I am preaching patience.

~Aeschines
[email protected]

Other than hoping the economy recovers the only real source of money is to free it up from Defense spending by completely overhauling the Military procurement process.

1) Do not allow the Generals to change weapon system or software system requirements once a program is started.

2) Do not fund any cost overruns by contractors by holding them to their original contracts.

3) End Congressional micromanagement of military procurement by giving each branch of service a block grant and letting the services spend it according their own needs.
 

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