RickRouse.com

President Obama’s economy

Feb 27, 2009 My thoughts on...

When Barack Obama was sworn in as President of the United States on January 20, he immediately became the “owner” of the worst economy since the 1970′s, and while the Bush administration must share the blame with the Democratically-controlled Congress, the problem now belongs entirely to President Obama.

In my opinion Mr. Obama is standing at a crossroads. If he manages the economy just right and things turn around, he should be able to expect easy re-election in four years. But if he bungles this enormous task, he and Michelle might as well begin packing up their belongings in the latter part of the next election cycle. I predict it will be the latter.

When Congress was negotiating the massive stimulus bill that just passed, they and the President had an opportunity to really make a big impact on the economy and the confidence of the American people, but they blew it. Instead of spending the money where it counts (tax cuts and business incentives), they chose instead to push through a gargantuan pile of pork that will have very little positive effect on the economy at all. In reality, all it will do is plunge the nation far deeper into debt, and our grandchildren will some day have to pay all of this money back.

The Republicans in Congress refused to go along with the game, but the Democrats had the votes needed to ramrod the bill through anyway. Make no mistake, this catastrophe of a bill has nothing but Democrat handprints all over it, and in the end I believe it will be Obama’s downfall (as well as the downfall of the Democrat majority in the House and Senate). When this largest stimulus package ever approved fails to turn the economy around, the Republicans can, and will, legitimately be able to say “I told you so”. And I believe the American voters will agree.