I have said numerous times in political conversations with friends that I will give Barack Obama the benefit of the doubt and give him some space at the beginning of his administration. I realize that both sides of the political spectrum campaign to their fringe and for the most part govern towards the middle. Whether this is good or bad is up for debate and not the subject of this post. There is a laundry list of policies that he campaigned on, which I fundamentally disagree with, but as a realist, I know that very few of the items will come to fruition, even with a Democratically controlled congress (which will try to govern left of Obama). While its only the second week of a four year term, a one thing is perfectively clear, the Obama administration will be able to get away with anything without much objection from anyone. No one has called him out on the few policies he has proposed and enacted or that a few controversial cabinet nominees were passed with little questioning.

It feels like we are witnessing a “Teflon president” where nothing will stick to him. Look at this list:

*Reverend Wright

*Tony Resco

*Governor Blagojevich conversations

*The birth certificate issue- never releasing an original certificate from Hawaii

*Promising to take public campaign financing and then backing out

*Tim Geithner, his Treasury secretary who forgot to pay his taxes for years

*Secretary of State Hilary Clinton who was never grilled about the source of millions of dollars of donations to President Clinton foundations

*Not a lot of questioning about putting TRILLIONS of stimulus dollars with little oversight.

*What are we going to do with the prisoners of Guantanamo Bay when it closes, their home country wants nothing to do with them.

*Joe Biden stating that we should expect more military casualties because of an increased presence in Afghanistan.

*Campaigning against wasteful spending, wanting to spend trillions of dollars to stimulate the economy. He is doing this by putting money into banks, the auto industry and the states in a veiled attempt at socialism.

We all know that if anyone of these happen to a conservative president or candidate would be raked over the coals until the cows come home.

I believe that the Obama honeymoon will last throughout his four years and if the opposition doesn't get their act together a total of eight years. Of course its easy to say now with Obama's high approval rating after his decisive victory in November. He has mezorized a large majority of Americans, who believes tat he can't do no wrong. It's almost cult like. I haven't seen this kind of buzz for a public figure since Ronald Reagan. In Reagan's case he didn't touch the hearts of America until well into his first term, then it grew to what it is today. The only issue that could derail Obama's popularity is if the economy stays stagnant for a prolong period of time, like two or three years, which is definitely in the realm of possibility. We live in an impatient society and a large segment of the population would like to see their retirement to at least get to the point where it was at its peak last year asap. The stock market, if lucky might get back ½ of their loss from its peak in four years. I believe that if the market doesn't get back to the previous high in four years, Obama he might have a battle for re-election in 2012. To diffuse this, the administration and Democratic leaders has already stated that the economy will take a long time to recover and we should be patient. The administration is already trying to hedge their bets and covering their butts if the economy is not running at full steam in 2-3 years.

I guess time will tell when Obama will do or say something that will rub people the wrong way and will be called out. Who will do this, the mainstream media, his fellow Democrats, the Republican minority who was their own identity issues to deal with? The answer is no. The only people that has questioned Obama's actions throughout the campaign and into his Presidency is talk radio which Obama dismisses as not speaking for mainstream Americans. The only group that might stand up against Obama is the Democratically controlled congress if he doesn't govern as as left as they want, and that's a scary thought.

 

With energy and food prices on the rise and showing no signs of going down (at least to a point where we are used to), where are all the advocates of the poor and minorities who are being hit by this the hardest. On a grand scale they are silent, no Michael Moore (who would just blame big oil), Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton or any prominent Democrats, who would rather pander to their environmental wacko supporters than a huge majority of the electorate They would rather talk about technology that doesn't exist today, or very short sighted solutions like taking oil from the strategic reserves or having a gas tax holiday. Its always about the demand for oil not the supply. Hey, oil prices went down $10 a barrel on just the announcement of President Bush lifting the Federal ban on offshore drilling which still doesn't even get us a step closer to drilling. What would happen to oil prices if we ever laid out a plan with a timetable on increasing our domestic production of oil while finding ways to conserve our energy. Hey, I am all for hybrid cars and finding alternate sources of energy ,but they are not practical on a grand scale at this time. We should be opening up HUNDREDS of nuclear and coal fired plants, shut down all natural gas powered plants (natural gas should only be used for home heating), while creating more fuel efficient practical cars, trucks and SUVs. Just the mere announcement of a plan (which would only take a year if congress ever gets their head out of their a**) would bring down oil prices under $100. While we may never see gas prices of .99 or even 1.99 we would knock it down to $2.25 or so.

So, it seems like the Democratic led congress has abandoned one of their constituencies and sided with the environmentalists, risking their political future. As I said before, there are certain groups Democrats will never cross; the elderly, environmentalists, trial lawyers and teachers. I hate to say it, the poor and minorities don't go out in droves to vote, still falling for the same rhetoric year after year from the Democratic party. They claim that they are the only ones looking out for them while the Republicans only look out for the rich, which couldn't be further from the truth. It is safe to assume that the Democrats in congress are safe and probably will pick up seats in both houses this election year because of the unpopularity of President Bush, but in 2010 and beyond, it will be a crap shoot. If energy prices continue to rise or even stays the same, the election of 2010 could be a very interesting election especially if Obama wins the Presidency. If this happens the Democrats would have no one else to blame, but themselves. Democrats have made this bed and will have to live in it if they continue to side with a small minority of hard core environmentalists who fight every new power plant in this country, than the people who don't have a voice in Washington. We could see a mass exodus from the Democratic party comparable to the likes of southerners becoming Reagan Democrats when the Democratic party became too far left on social causes for their taste.

How are the Democrats will handle this situation? Again they will try to curb Demand and will probably will try to raise the minimum wage a few dollars an hour (which surprises me that no one has written a bill on this). Anyone who has an ounce on economic knowledge (not one Democratic congressman on capital hill that I know of) knows that business will just raise prices when faced with higher labor costs. All of this will raise the price of goods and services for all of us to help a few that are making the minimum wage. Employees that make more than the minimum wage won't get a wage increase, so their buying power decreases. This would hurt the economy no help it.

Again, this issue might not be a major problem for the Democrats this election but in two years I am going to pull up a chair, crack open a beer and see all of this unfold in front of my eyes. Man this is great.