Obama's Executive

"Each day we wait to begin the work of turning our economy around, more people lose their jobs, their savings and their homes. And, if nothing is done, this recession might linger for years...our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse." - President Barack Obama

Is the above quote anything more than a scare tactic? This is what Mr Obama has been thriving on as he force feeds America the "change" he promised during the election. During his first weeks in office, the economy has gown from awful to horrific. The only thing dropping faster than the stock markets is economic confidence, arguably the most important contributor to recovery. Mr Obama came in with a full plate with the economy spiraling. What does he do to combat this? He goes back to the buffet table of social and pet projects and piles on a few more layers, lines his pockets with dessert and asks for a doggie bag. His solution to too much debt is to add more debt.

Some argue George W Bush used the September 11th attacks to extend the power of the executive. By and large, this is true, whether right and necessary or not. However, what Mr Obama is doing is quite worse and on a larger scale. He is using the economic meltdown to push forward his far liberal agenda (in contradiction to during his campaign, where he projected himself in the middle).

His "stimulus" plan is proof of this. In spite of the economy, he pledged over $600B to "fix" health care, and acknowledged the need for more; he vowed to lower taxes for 95% of Americans while crushing the upper tier with higher income and capital gains taxes and fewer tax breaks for such high crimes as charitable giving; and he allowed over 1000 earmarks to be put in despite his previous stance on the matter.

Just as Mr Bush acted on fears of more terrorist attacks to push forward his agenda, Mr Obama is acting on fearful concerns about the economy. If this were to work, just as Mr Bush was able to fend off any more terrorist acts at an unknown social and economical cost, Mr Obama would be credited with saving the nation from its biggest threat to our way of life since the Cuban missile crisis. If it is to fail, and in the long run I don't see how this does not handicap us for a long while, it will have not only failed to fix our current situation, but will also strap us with the huge sunk cost of the spending.

True, it has only been a matter of weeks, but signs are pointing down and at a faster pace rather than leveling off and troughing before a rebound. FDR was able to spend his way out of trouble and win a war in the process. If Mr Obama were able to solve this centuries great economic crisis and make progress in what is no longer called the War on Terror, he will be remembered in the same light. His legacy is already in the balance.