The First Hundred Days
Posted on October 18, 2008
The First 100 days
So, now that the American people look like they are going to elect the most liberal President and the most liberal Congress in our nation’s history, what will the first hundred days look like of the Obama Administration look like?
Obama has been pretty tight-lipped about what he will actually propose, and Nancy Pelosi has shown little ability to actually deliver the votes to pass the kind of left-wing agenda that she really supports, but with 20 additional votes in the House and with Harry Reid being fairly close to getting 60 votes in the Senate, Democrats will have very few reasons to not be able to deliver on their agenda.
So here is a summary of what you can expect:
1) Iraq: Obama will have to deliver on his promise to sharply reduce our footprint in Iraq. He will have to overcome stiff resistance to our generals in theater, but will likely get the support of the top brass at the Pentagon. The result could be a disintegration of Iraqi society, as the Kurds push to protect their territory, and as the Sunnis and the Shiites fight for supremacy. Iran will move quickly to fill the vacuum left by our force’s departure.
2) Taxes: House Democrats, led by Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel, will move quickly to raise taxes on the so-called wealthy. Wall Street firms, international corporations, small business owners, doctors, and lawyers will face a steep increase in their taxes. Rates will snap up to a 39 percent, with a special levy on those poor suckers who make more than a million dollars a year, who be forced to pay up to 45% of their salary to Uncle Sam.
3) Entitlements:
a. Medicare Advantage will be repealed with all of the money from that program transferred to traditional Medicare. The eligibility age for Medicare will be lowered from 65 to 60.
b. Social Security: Once again, those poor suckers who make a lot of money will get smacked. For those who make more than $250,000 a year will be socked with a huge increase in the Social Security tax. This is Obama’s way to reform the system.
4) Spending: All of Obama’s refundable tax credits will be enacted, probably in the first tax bill. There will be great pressure to increase the appropriations allocations, so that spending will sharply increase in labor, health and human services, foreign aid, and labor. These allocations will be included in a budget resolution that will likely pass sometime in March.
5) Labor issues: All oversight of the labor unions will magically disappear. Any efforts to give workers a chance to vote in a secret ballot on whether they want to organize or not will be stopped.
6) Aid to cities and states: Look for Obama to push through a spending package to help cities and states deal with the lingering financial crisis. Obama will call this an emergency, but it really is a way to thank Mayor Daley for all of his help in the election.
7) Defense and Intelligence Cuts: Obama and Congressional Democrats will seek to scale back defense spending and spending for secret intelligence programs. The Pentagon might howl, but their complaints will fall on deaf ears.
8) Trade: The Obama Administration will seek to renegotiate NAFTA, but will be rebuffed by the Canadians and the Mexicans. The trade agenda will likely go nowhere after that effort, as Big Labor has no interest in opening free markets to American products.
9) Investigations and prosecutions: The Obama Administration will seek to put a variety of former Bush officials in jail, including Karl Rove, Dick Cheney, and David Addington. Nothing personal, just business.
10) Supreme Court. Obama will name Hillary Clinton to the Supreme Court, making certain that she won’t run against him in the next election.
As a result of all of these actions, the economy will continue to slow, capital will continue to flow out of the country, trade will dry up, Washington will become even more partisan, and our national prestige will take a beating as Russia and China move to fill the vacuum left by our muddled foreign policy. It won’t be pretty.