Post Election Round Up

The people have spoken and their choice is clear. Barack Obama will be our next and 44th President. He will govern with heavy Democratic majorities in the House and Senate, so it appears we are headed for a serious lurch to the left.

All is not lost for the Republicans. They are almost certain to avoid the nightmare scenario of a filibuster proof majority in the Senate. As such, we will be spared the lunacy of such things as the Fairness Doctrine and open ballots for unions.

The first order of business for President Obama will be the economy. It remains to be seen if he is serious about his plan to to redistribute income. Of more priority for President Obama will be the continued implementation of the massive bailout passed in September. It remains to be seen if President Obama will attempt to implement some of his bolder agenda: universal health care, merit pay, and equal pay for equal work.

For the Republicans, the motto should be targeted filibuster. If they are to be bold, and I don't expect this, they would filibuster a lot and use that time to expose the plans a lot better than John McCain did. This of course would be a dicey proposition and appearing to be obstructionists would only hurt them even more in the next election, however there is still plenty to expose in his policies. If the public was really made aware that his tax plan amounts to a welfare plan, I think they wouldn't support it.

On foreign policy and judges, Barack Obama will have nearly free reign. My greatest fear on foreign policy is that Vladimir Putin will take up Joe Biden on his prediction and he will test him, in Ukraine, within the next six months. On judges, elections have consequences. Republicans should only oppose judges because they are unqualified not because of ideology.

There is still some house cleaning. In Minnesota, Norm Coleman appears to have won narrowly however a recount is almost certain. In Oregon, Senator Smith is holding on barely. In Georgia, it continues to remain unclear if Senator Chambliss will have a run off. In Alaska, Ted Stevens appears to also be headed to a razor sharp victory. Apparently, being convicted of felonies isn't enough to throw someone out of office in that state. The final numbers for the Senate are still not set.

As for me, I will give President Obama a chance. Some have said they believe he will govern from the middle. If he does, he has the chance to be the transformative figure some believe him to be. If he governs from the left or even far left, I predict he will go down in history as a disaster.