Thoughts on the Inauguration

Posted on January 20, 2009
Filed Under Politics | 5 Comments

Since everyone else is talking about it here are my thoughts on the inauguration of our new President.

First my caveats. I did, after a lot of thought, vote for Obama despite being a conservative. I think McCain’s reaction to the banking crisis showed he simply wasn’t a good leader or manager. However I always had reservations about voting for him. (A repeat of 2000 and 2004 where I also didn’t exactly feel there was someone I could feel good about)

I’ve been pleasantly surprised by many of his appointments. It gives me some confidence that Obama won’t be this radical reformulation of government. (That is the economic team appears to be continuing that general Reaganesque transformation that we found even under Clinton)

That said the big worry is the stimulus package. Of course this is both a place where there is in a certain sense less disagreement. After all pretty much all major economists see a need for it and even many conservatives do. Yet, there is a worry I have that Obama is making use of the economic catastrophe to implement a permanent stimulus. That is to impose government spending that he has no intention of ending.

It’s hard to say what Obama intends and frankly the Congress holds the real power here anyway. So Obama wants more tax cuts (a conservative approach) whereas Pelosi says she doesn’t and is putting her foot down. (Especially on corporate taxes – which I can promise you are not small)

So while I’m thus far happy about Obama an other part of me really worries that we are going to see spending that is even more out of control than what we saw under Bush.

This will be the way conservatives expect to make a comeback of course. To run as economic conservatives in a way Bush II never was. While I think Clinton’s fiscal successes are overstated since they were propped up by the Internet bubble I will give him props for at least trying to keep a balanced budget. Something Bush never even remotely did.

While I can see the need for a large stimulus package now, the real question will be what will be around two years from now when the recession is over.

All that said I think Obama brings something the nation dearly needs. Someone charismatic to inspire the nation. We’ve not had that since Reagan.

So what about the inauguration proper? Millions went to DC. Whether you agree with Obama or not it is hard to deny he has inspired America. And that is a good thing. It’s what we’ll need both to get out of our current mess as well as unify the country again. I just hope Obama doesn’t overreach…

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  4. Politics of Energy
  5. The Democratic War on Science?
  6. Hypocrisy and Politics

Comments

5 Responses to “Thoughts on the Inauguration”

I have been reasonably skeptical of all the hype too. Little things like the whitehouse blog, and comments on all non-emergency bills before the president signs them makes a difference for my perceptions. It may not change things all that much, but I don’t think we would have seen consideration given to those small things -in ways that were widely noticeable- with other candidates.

I’m just hoping he yanks some chains over at the US Trustee’s Office and tells them to quit wasting our time dreaming up new ways to force Chapter 7 debtors into Chapter 13s and start going after abusive creditor practices.

Since that’s an arm of the Executive Branch, that is completely in Obama’s control.

I just hope the hype blows over soon. It’s at kind of ridiculous levels that no person could ever live up to. I think it probably is counterproductive although it will in the short term let him get things that he normally wouldn’t. However kind of like George Bush got a blank cheque after 9-11 and screwed it up I worry that all this hype breeds hubris. The one thing we don’t want in a President.

I’d like to see him push a new American economic direction, just as Eisenhower did with building highways, or Kennedy’s goal to the moon in a decade.

Bush II’s statement of going to Mars really hasn’t gone anywhere, because it faded under the weight of two wars and economic issues. Better had he established a national goal of energy independence in a decade, and then put some money behind it.

Imagine spending $150B of fed money to rebuild our energy infrastructure, so that wind mills in Texas can generate power to be used across the country! Our antiquated system can’t even supply it to Louisiana next door. To spend that “little” amount, in order to stop sending $750B a year to Arabia, would be a huge boost to our economy and help fix our trade deficit. It would also create jobs quickly, and provide for future jobs in manufacturing energy for ourselves, and perhaps the world.

I’m hoping Pres Obama can make some wise and pragmatic choices, while maintaining our freedoms. I’m upbeat about his inauguration address, as it had a good mix of pragmatism and freedom. Hopefully, liberals in Congress (Pelosi, et al), will not slow down his moderate train.

I believe a conservative free market is best. But I also agree with Adams that our Constitution is made only for a moral people. Given the immoral and greedy way in which millions spend credit as if money grew on trees, I do not think our nation can be run as a free people like it once was. Sadly, Madoff and millions like him have potentially destroyed our free market and freedom as a whole.

The problem Obama is going to face will be the irony of environmentalists and environmental regulation being the biggest impediment to real taking on of environmental issues. Swartzenegger found the same thing in California.

Right now the biggest problem with reformulation our energy is the delapidated grid. But try putting new powerlines in — especially near more suburban areas — and you’ll see lawsuits out the wazoo. The problem is less money than the time it takes to get it in place.

It’s always funny the first year a new President is in office and they realize how hard it is in practice to actually do things.

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