American Missive

ATLANTA – Barack Obama was able to rope an extremely large amount of new voters into the election process.  It may be true that many of them did not follow the particulars of Mr. Obama’s policies so much as the persona and image of Mr. Obama himself.  But I have to believe there were a significant group of them that did.  And what they likely do not realize is that a president rarely follows through on all of the policy positions he sets out for himself during the campaign. 

The realities facing Mr. Obama are stark.  We are facing a trillion dollar deficit, a two-front war in the middle east, a resurgent Russia, an Iran chasing nuclear weapons, and the fall-out from a global collapse in the financial markets.  In the rare moments when Mr. Obama was specific about his goals, I never felt his policies taken together fit the times.  For instance, raising taxes in the midst of a downturn does not seem wise.  A massive expansion of government spending in the area of health care does not fit with the incredible budget deficit.  Massive “tax credits” for the middle class will be incredibly expensive.  And a precipitous withdrawal from Iraq sounds almost reckless, especially when the military consistently suggests the gains of the surge are fragile and reversible.

So it is very likely that some or most of Mr. Obama’s principle policies will not be enacted. Thus I ask the question: of what I believe are some of his principle policy positions, which is the most likely to be dropped?

1. Middle class tax cut / Tax increase on those making $250,000/year.
2. Withdrawal in 16 months from Iraq.
3. Signficant health care reform.

My money is on the tax cut / tax increase.  I think he’ll see the enormous size of the deficit George Bush and the Democratic Congress have left him as well as the state of the US economy and he will jettison this issue.

What are your thoughts? Do you think he’ll pursue them all or chuck some of them?  What others may be missing from my missive?

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