Looking Forward to President Obama

I have been asked to envision what an Obama presidency would look like and to give my comment on that. Now, for those of you new to reading my column you may not be aware of this but I am a fairly loyal Republican and I love John McCain. In fact, John McCain is my number one friend on my myspace account even ahead of my wife (this is a short term thing I promise).

Of course, to envision an Obama presidency would mean that I must envision failure on my part to elect my President. I want you to think about asking the Greeks to envision what life would be like if the Trojans had actually won the Trojan war? Maybe ask the ancient citizens of Rome how they would feel if Hannibal had actually sacked their city? Even worse, why not ask Rick Allen, member of the greatest rock and roll band in the world, Def Leppard, how his life would be different if the band would have replaced him as the drummer after he lost his arm in the car accident?

This would be a question that they could not begin to answer because it would have completely disrupted the balance of the world that they knew. However, Michael Callaway can, no, he will, answer this question in a way that is both fair and biased.

First, what a President Obama will not be, he will not be some Islamic Manchurian candidate sent on a secrete mission to convert the United States to Islam. Chances are he will not turn out to be the Anti-Christ and lead the world into seven years of tribulation and he will definitely not destroy the US economy.

On the other hand, President Obama will not be the Mythical seconding coming of JFK and end poverty in this nation and fix all our social issues such as racism and prejudice. Education, healthcare and the environment will not just all of a sudden become great and to borrow a line from Hillary Clinton, a choir of angles will not come down and start singing.

If Obama is lucky and makes the right choices he could be like Harry Truman or FDR, if he is unlucky and makes bad choices he could be Jimmy Carter. I am not against Obama for President because I do not want to see “Yes we can”, I am against him because historically government has not been able to do all things that he has said that he would like to do.

Chances are President Obama will still be involved in a war in Iraq for at least two or three years if not more. President Obama will have to deal with radicals in his own party who will be very angry with him because he could not deliver everything he promised such as renegotiating NAFTA.

On the positive side I believe that a President Obama will help the United States with its image in Europe and among other allies. I think he will have a positive impact on the environment and will increase fuel standards and invest more in alternative fuel choices. I also believe that a President Obama will be much more likely to compromise then President Billary was in 1993 on healthcare reform and may actually get something done.

Now whether or not this is the right approach is hard to say. There are some things that only the government can do, there are some things that only the private sector can do, and then there are tasks that fall in the middle that both government and private sector can do. The tough thing for any President and congress to decide is which tasks are best left to the private sector and which ones can they add value by a private/public partnership.

No one can predict the future, not even the Great Michael Callaway. I remember in 1992 thinking that President elect Bill Clinton was going to ruin the US economy with his tax increase and with the medical leave act. I also was positive in 2000 that President elect George Bush was going to be able to unite Democrats and Republicans for the common good like he did as Governor of Texas. I was wrong on both accounts. However, in the end I believe that the right person who needed to be President at that time is the one who was/is.

While I will do all that is in my power to elect the man that I feel is the best President, in the end I will support him (or her if all hell breaks lose) and wish him the best however it may be. Hopefully President Obama will not be as tragic as if Def Leppard would have abandoned their drummer and got someone else.