So Exactly What Change is Obama Planning On?

So Exactly What Change is Obama Planning On?

         In the American democracy, we are in a debate about ideas.   In the world of Washington, think tanks are where these ideas are tested, propagated, blogged and released to the media.  So what is a think tank?   According to a research study authored by Dr. James McGann of the Think Tank and Civil Societies Project,  “Think tanks are public policy research, analysis and engagement institutions that generate policy-oriented research, analysis and advice on domestic and international issues that enables policymakers and the public to make informed decisions about public policy issues. Think tanks may be affiliated or independent institutions and are structured as permanent bodies, usually a non-profit organization or foundation.”   For more info on the Foreign Policy Research Institute www.fpri.org

         Quick highlights from Dr. McGann’s research on think tanks:  Over 5,000 worldwide, of which 1776 are in the United States, and 91% of these policy influencing organizations were created in the last 50 years.  The United States based think tanks make up about one third of the world’s think tanks.  Among the top thirty think tanks in the United States (as per research by Dr. McGann published under Routlege Research in American Politics, 2007), include the well-known organizations such as the Cato Institute, Manhattan Institute, Brookings Institution, Heritage Foundation, RAND, Urban Institute and the infamous Council on Foreign Relations.

What kind on budget and staffing levels do these think tanks have? University of Michigan has great web resource www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/psthink.html including direct links to home pages to think tanks. Some examples include the Brookings Institute  (founded in 1927, staff of 400, annual budget $48MM), the conservative Heritage Foundation (founded in 1973, staff of 200, annual budget $60MM), the American Enterprise Institute (founded in 1943, staff of 190, annual budget $28MM). 

So what exactly is meant by “Change Has Come to America?  (President Elect Obama’s opening line of his election night address)Let’s look at one of the progressive (liberal) think tanks in Washington DC, which 8 days after the election of Barack Obama, released the Blueprint for the new administration.   It can be found at

www.americanprogressaction.org/issues/2008/changeforamerica/ or you can order online from www.amazon.com    The US think tank behind this Obama blueprint is the Center for American Progress. www.americanprogress.org     According to their web site, the CAP organization was founded in 2003 and is headed by Chicago native John Podesta.    Mr. Podesta is a former Chief of Staff for President Bill Clinton and (surprise) was recently appointed by Barack Obama as the head of his President-Elect transition team.   (See Fox News www.foxnews.com for interview transcripts)   If you’d like to check out John Podesta’s writing (as a liberal progressive), the CAP website has many of his “progressive” white papers.

         Back to the Blueprint.   Here are some pull quotes from the Obama “change book”.   Not exactly conservative policy positions.   The old tired “liberal Democrats policies” are now being recast as “progressive”, thanks to the work of the Center for American Progress.   Here is Obama change, in a politically progressive style we can believe in:

 On immigration, change means “in the short term, the 44th president must shift focus away from destructive workplace and neighborhood raids, and focus instead on abusive employers. This shift should be accompanied by an overhaul of the immigration detention infrastructure” Cecilia Muñoz, a noted immigration expert.

On voting, along the lines of Obama’s favorite group (ACORN) and other voting rights groups, and we quote from the Blueprint: In voting, the new president should lead the fight for universal voter registration, which would add up to 50 million American citizens to the rolls. He should also fix electronic voting and push for public funding of elections, with an emphasis on boosting the power of small contributors. And he can use the bully pulpit to urge the states to curb gerrymandering after the 2010 census and to move to a national popular vote for president. Michael Waldman, executive director of the Brennan Center for Justice at the NYU School of Law.

         On health care, moving to socialized single payer system Making health coverage affordable would expand it, and covering all Americans would, after an up-front investment, reduce system costs. Jeanne Lambrew, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

         So according the Center for American Policy (CAP) blueprint for the 44th President, we are recycling liberal big government ideas from the 20th century under President’s Johnson, Carter and Clinton, and promulgating them as 21st “Change” Obama style.    Actually progressive policies is the term being used, as “liberal” is now out of favor, probably because the American people remember how most of the big government, higher tax “liberal policies” don’t work very well.  The “New Deal” of FDR is an old deal, being recast at the “New Deal” Obama style.   (See the recent Time magazine cover of Obama type cast as FDR)

         Seeing that recycling is a good green approach to the waste paper stream, it is good to see the progressive policies being championed by the Obama transition team that are simply recycled ideas from the last century.    We’ll see if they work (or don’t) this time around.

© 2008, Jasper Welch, Four Corners Media, www.jasperwelch.org

 

The Loyal Opposition

The Loyal Opposition

As a conservative, what is the approach that we should take following the US election in which liberal Democrats picked up more seats in the US House and US Senate?  And what is the conservative response to our newly elected US President, Barack Obama?   We are the loyal opposition:  Loyal to our country, our republic and the US Constitution.    We are supporting the peaceful (and gold standard) process of the transition of power in American, following our national elections.  America is unique in the world in how we elect our leaders and how the change in power occurs peacefully.    The pundits, politicians and press are now debating the demise of conservative principles and the weakened Republican Party.   While that is a debate worth having, as a member of the loyal opposition, I both support the newly elected President Obama, but I also oppose many of his ideas and policies that have been proposed in the campaign.   Unlike my liberal friends who bashed President Bush (and the office of the President), I will not engage in that disloyal behavior.   Sure, I had some tough words and pointed criticism of Senator Obama as a presidential candidate.    But he is the President Elect now, and that electoral victory and historic accomplishment is to be admired and respected.    This is American.   A country in which a presidential candidate from a diverse background can be elected to the Office of the President with the support of the minority and majority citizens of the United States.  That is the dream of every American.

But I will respectfully disagree with our newly minted President, when he proposes more Federal government spending, not less; when the security of the United States is compromised in the interest of getting along with our enemies or if the hand of the US government becomes heavy through taxes, regulations or limits to personal freedom.   In this case, as a member of the loyal opposition, I’ll express my contrary views.    Fortunately, the days of Bush bashing  are fading away, into the dusty Texas sunset. (Although Bush bashing is still lingering the MSM and in left leaning blogs)  Let our former President George W. quietly retire to his Crawford Ranch.  As for President Elect Obama, he has my loyal support and respect.    He was elected by a majority of the States, with a plurality of the vote of our fellow citizens.    However, his vision for American is still yet to be unfolded in the policy details of 2009.      The Obama campaign platitudes sounded pretty good, but as a member of the loyal opposition, I was suspect as to what will really happen in Washington DC under President Obama and the Democratic Congress. 

Meanwhile, I’m looking at the conservative “Blue Dog” Democrats in Congress http://www.house.gov/ross/BlueDogs/   as a member of the loyal opposition.   These are self selected Democrats that have a moderate to conservative view on budget and fiscal issues that come before the US House of Representatives.   In the 2006 House elections, there were 47 “Blue Dog Democrats”.    Since 1996, 27 Blue Dog Democrats have been elected to the US House, replacing incumbent or retiring Republicans.    In the 2008 election, 20 new Democrats were elected to the Congress, with a likely number of these new Democrats willing to join the Blue Dog coalition as fiscal conservatives.      The question will be: Are the Blue Dog Democrats willing to stand up to President Obama and the liberal Democratic House leadership on overspending and increased government programs that run up the US deficit?   We’ll see in January 2009.    As a member of the loyal opposition, I’m counting on Blue Dog Democrats in the House and the GOP members of the US Senate to provide some fiscal restraint and balance to Presidential initiatives from the Obama administration.

© 2008, Jasper Welch,  Four Corners Media, www.jasperwelch.org

What Does a Left Turn Look Like?

We know that the American electorate is ready for a change, but exactly what “Change We Can Believe In” are we looking at?   While Presidential Bush still remains unpopular (27% approval rating), the US Congress (12% approval rating) is competing with lawyers, used car dealers and mortgage brokers for popularity.   Over the past two years of the new Congressional Democrats, the only political check on the Congressional move to the “progressive left” has been GOP Senators (with a solid filibuster firewall) and a weak GOP President.  

While many in the Main Stream Media (MSM) would lead us to believe that Obama is a centrist, his liberal voting record, his radical left wing friends, his “ spread the wealth around” socialism and his class warfare rhetoric on the campaign trial indicate otherwise.   But are the American people ready for a sharp left turn politically into European style socialism?

            Peter Dupont, in his editorial piece in the Wall Street Journal listed seven major policy shifts from an Obama administration with the backing of the Democrat controlled Congress http://online.wsj.com He makes the strong case for the Europeanization of America.   In other words a trend towards socialism with full support of a Democratic President and Congress, (aka “one party rule”).  To quote Mr. Dupont in his Wall Street Journal opinion piece, “So where is the new Obama administration likely to take us? Seven things seem certain:

1)    The U.S. military will withdraw from Iraq quickly and substantially, regardless of conditions on the ground or the obvious consequence of emboldening terrorists there and around the globe.

2)    Protectionism will become our national trade policy; free trade agreements with other nations will be reduced and limited.

3)    Income taxes will rise on middle- and upper-income people and businesses, and individuals will pay much higher Social Security taxes, all to carry out the new president's goals of "spreading the wealth around."

4)    Federal government spending will substantially increase. The new Obama proposals come to more than $300 billion annually, for education, health care, energy, environmental and many other programs, in addition to whatever is needed to meet our economic challenges. Mr. Obama proposes more than a 10% annual spending growth increase, considerably higher than under the first President Bush (6.7%), Bill Clinton (3.3%) or George W. Bush (6.4%).

5)    Federal regulation of the economy will expand, on everything from financial management companies to electricity generation and personal energy use.

6)    The power of labor unions will substantially increase, beginning with repeal of secret ballot voting to decide on union representation.

7)    Free speech will be curtailed through the reimposition of the Fairness Doctrine to limit the conservative talk radio that so irritates the liberal establishment.

These policy changes will be the beginning of the Europeanization of America. There will be many more public policy changes with similar goals—nationalized health care, Kyoto-like global-warming policies, and increased education regulation and spending.” Opinion Page, Wall Street Journal, October 26, 2008

Is American ready for socialism?   Apparently, polling data from Tipp On-Line

  www.tipponline.com/social.html in August 2008 indicates that while the majority of Americans are not supportive of socialism, higher taxes and government ownership of industry, the Obama supporters appear to support a socialist approach.   This socialistic approach is confirmed in Senator Obama’s liberal voting record as an elected official.

“Since ADA's founding in 1947, the Annual Voting Records have served as the standard measure of political liberalism. Combining 20 key votes on a wide range of social and economic issues, both domestic and international, the Liberal Quotient (LQ) provides a basic overall picture of an elected official's political position.”   Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) www.adaction.org  on voting records, which ADA has tracked since 1947.   US Senator Barack Obama ranked as a 95% liberal (out of 100%) on 20 issues in 2006.  Essentially, Mr. Obama is a certified liberal, as rated by the ADA “gold standard” for political liberalism in the United States.

So if the junior Senator from Illinois, (who is the least experienced and most liberal Presidential candidate in modern history), is actually elected, what is the probability that he will track to the political center and provide any challenges (vetoes) to a Democrat majority in Congress?    Or rather will Obama following his previous voting records and lead the US on a sharp turn to the left on political issues, with the full support of the majority of the Democratically controlled Congress?

As for many Americans,  “Change We Can Believe It” is a platitude that sounds good on the campaign trail.    In a year or two, under the liberal approach taken by an Obama Administration, those same Americans may be saying “Change We Can’t Stand For” as their President and his Democrat operatives in Congress turn the country sharply to the political left.

© 2008, Jasper Welch, Four Corners Media,    www.jasperwelch.org