There is a lot of concern and shock and awe at the proposed mammoth Paulson bailout. What a wreck the next president will inherit. But one thing we do know is that the next president no matter who it is will have very little leeway short of a direct attack from a real country to wage war.
Now I fully expect Senator Obama to be the 44th President of the United States, but in case something terribly wrong happened between now and November 4, even McCain would be hamstrung to do what he REALLY enjoys most--wage war.
I have been reading on here about how health care, education, infrastructure initiatives are all dead thanks to Bush's economic wreckage. I don't believe this, but let's say it is. Just the fact that we can now nominate the next couple of Supreme Court justices in the ensuing four yearsmakes this election HUGE! Most likely, perhaps the finest public servant of the last 30 years, John Paul Stevens, will step down and retire. Hopefully, the actuarial charts for balding obsese men in their sixties will catch up with either Scalia or Thomas and we can replace a wingnut with a liberal.
This economic meltdown will force President Obama to look the Pentagon in the eye and shut down BOTH of these wars and create a smaller force for the Afghan/Pakistan region. President Obama has a chance to begin a re-thinking of the insane military policy we've had since WW2.
We haven't done everything we can Senator Obama to defeat Clintonism and then Bushism to have you become the Clinton Administration redux. Not crazy about that lineup of Clinton-era economic officials you are surrounding yourself with either. But do what you have to do for now. Remember though, you want to be a consequential president as you so famously said about Reagan and NOT Clinton back in Nevada in January.
That means being as bold a Progressive as Reagan was a Conservative. Nothing else will work. Conservatism is bankrupt, Clintonism helped pave the way for all this in the 90s. A Progressive economic policy, coupled with a smart scaling back of the military along with investments in PEOPLE--education, health care and infrastructure will make you a hero by the end of your first term.
Be bold Senator Obama!