Now it Begins

Let me just say that I am tremendously excited that Barack Obama is now our president, it's almost surreal to have a competent man in the White House. Barack Obama has the potential be a fantastic President, perhaps even one of the best.

That said, now is the time to govern. Running a campaign and running a country are very different things, and Obama's prowess at the former, while encouraging, has minimal correlation to the latter. Obama now has to do what he can to make this country and world a better place. He's off to a good start, stopping torture and closing Guantanamo are superb first steps, but there's a lot more to do. The economy is in a deep recession, climate change is threatening our way of life, our military is actively engaged in two foreign occupations and our budget is deep in deficit with no solution in sight. The ways in which he reacts to these problems will define his presidency. All are tough, controversial issues, the type that either make you a great president, or make you a national joke. We must always remember that the first nail in George W Bush's coffin was his abortive attempt to "privatize" the social security system. The Obama administration seems poised to make a big swing at health care reform, a sticky and dangerous topic that marred Bill Clinton's first term and helped lead the republicans to a landslide in the '94 midterm elections. Success in that endeavor would be a major triumph, but failure could detonate his presidency.

The most concerning thing about Obama is the populist bent be took on free trade during the campaign. There is little more important to our economy and that of the world than open and free trade with other countries. Nothing will be more disappointing than if Obama continues to oppose good trade agreements, like that with Colombia that was shot down by House Democrats for solely political reasons. The fears of Free Traders have been somewhat assuaged, however, by the selection of Former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk, a NAFTA supporter, as US Trade Representative. Hopefully it is Kirk's philosophy, and not that of the protectionists, that will guide our trade policies.

(sorry about my extended absence from this blog, i kinda got out of the habit of writing)

I Apologize

for the extended absence, the next month or so is going to be really busy for me, and i wont be posting quite as much, but ill try my best to post as much as i can