We have a new president elect. As someone who doesn’t plan to move out of the country, it is important that I support the new president. It’s the same for all of us. I pray he does what needs to be done to pull our country’s fat out of the fire. Many have done much to give Senator Obama this opportunity. Some may still be celebrating today. For some of those who worked so hard to make this happen, there will be a price. This is not a negative attack on you or Senator Obama, this is just reality.
First, the group that did the most. Mainstream media. You got the job done. Never before have I seen any group work so hard to accomplish a goal. You should be proud. But, you have lost 48% of your customer base or potential customer base in the process. At some point, very soon, the big guys who control your budgets will say enough. The top guys and gals will be fired and replaced with people who do not have the same political ideology. Ultimately, you, too, will lose your job. As these businesses scramble to regain some lost revenue you will find it hard to get employment in a place where you can pimp for your liberal causes. Sorry, but yours is a business and money rules. Don’t worry, your government will take care of you.
Hollywood, take your bow. You have wanted this for a long, long time. If you have been too enthusiastic and some people may choose not to see your movies, don’t fret. When the economy picks up, your business will too. Making good films might help. Keeping your politics to yourself might open your work up to people who don’t think your 80 IQ points qualify you to tell us how to vote.
Oprah, you were doing damage control on your show today. Trying to save the brand. You may find ratings down too.
State of Michigan. You did it again. You, too, should be proud. But, if you read the news today, Henry Waxman wants John Dingell’s job as the Chair of the Energy and Commerce Dept. Why? Waxman, Pelosi, and others feel John is too soft on carbon emissions. Henry will get the job. Pelosi hates Dingell almost as much as she hates Bush. What will Henry do when he gets the job? He will put in a more aggressive carbon tax plan than the one that is choking Europe. What will that mean for Michigan? You figure it out. With gasoline prices going up 50 cents a gallon just with the carbon tax, you already know. Sorry, Michigan, you should have seen this coming.
Walmart shoppers, clean up in aisle ten. I’m guessing that 90% of both the employees and shoppers at Walmart voted for Senator Obama. Here’s your payoff. The labor bill, already passed in the House, will fly through the Senate and be signed into law by the new president. Walmart is the first target to use the card check program to unionize the company. Walmart will pass the costs on to consumers. Those of you who count on Walmart to stretch your tight budgets will not be able to buy as much. Those of you who work there may find stores closing and fewer places to work. Maybe this isn’t the change you voted for. Maybe you should have asked more questions about what change means.
Government contractors. Barney Frank wants to cut the defense budget 25% for social programs. Sorry, you won’t be able to sell as many $200 toilet seats.
New Yorkers. You did your part. But, here’s the bad news. As the country moves forward on social programs like the very ones that have put you in a big financial hole, there will not be any money from Washington to bail you out. You will probably have to keep moving out of the state like you have been doing. Hey, the weather is not that great there, try Texas.
New England. You folks are at the wrong end of the energy pipeline. In fact you have resisted any pipelines for years. So, you use heating oil and power that is pretty darned expensive. Wait until you start getting Henry Waxman’s bills. It gets pretty cold and dark up there in the winter. Texas might look good to you too.
Ohio and Pennsylvania. The new president is on record saying he might just bankrupt the coal industry. That won’t hurt your economy too much. You are big in mining but not that big. But, the factories that close due to taxes, power costs, and unionization might hurt. There will be jobs working for the government. You can rebuild bridges or put up windmills. Plus, like most government workers, you don’t even have to show up for work most of the time.
California. Like New York, don’t count on the Feds to bail you out of your budget woes. As the Feds are hard at work making the country more like California and New York, they will not have time or money for your problems.
Charities you helped the new president. I had a nice African American lady ring my doorbell last night and ask me to donate to a charity. I responded by saying the new president was going to take more of my money for taxes and I was counting on him to handle my charitable giving from now on. She had a very strange response. I plan to say this a lot in the next four years. Charities, you are going to get less and less and many of you who work there are going to be dependent on charity.
Raise a glass to change. It’s coming and it will be fun to watch. If your ox gets gored by the change, it’s just part of the process. Sometimes change is painful. As the president elect said in his victory speech, we will have to sacrifice. Elections don’t come with warranties. It’s buyer beware. If you bought and didn’t think about what the product might do for you, beware. I’m just here to point out the fine print. I tried to read it before I bought. It’s a good practice.
Bill:
I’m sitting with Courtney for a class assignment talking to about her Grandfather Gus military record serving from 1943 to 2002 with ranks both in the Navy and Army based upon his intelligence experience while reading your blog contribution for the day. Having said that I thought your contribution today was on the mark relative to President elect Obama’s challenge. As an American I certainly hope for his success, but I think he has a great challenge bridging the gap between his very well run political campaign and the reality of our economic crisis. Rectoric is cheap but results are much tougher. Hopefully, he is prepared for this challenge but history unfortunately is not an indicator for him as his experience is quite limited.
Our family while only possessing two official votes preferred the experience of McCain to the promise of Obama. Our five children voted 3-2 for McCain in their school elections. Parental influence only went so far. Courtney preferred the idealism of the Democractic movement for equality or as some said this year’s "socialism". Tyler preferred to say he voted for the winner so I more understand his vote. Lexie, Lindsay, and Kasey supported their father’s perspective or at least figured the guy who makes the money to buy the ice cream deserves our suppport 🙂
Historically, we have experienced a positive increase in stock market value following a Presidential election. However, this year appears at least upon the first two days to be a resounding vote of no-confidence. Global markets appear to be following this gloom. Is it just another downturn in a global bear market given the credit meltdown or a vote of no-confidence in the US. Clearly it’s too early to make a definitive call but the early indicators aren’t very auspicious.
My challenge to President-elect Obama is to demonstrate versus talk change. Rather than follow the historice norm, he should be assertive. He certainly has been anticipating victory so name his cabinet or at least economic leadership and look to drive policy now versus two months from now. We need leadership now not a "lame duck" presidency and congress. I recognize he doesn’t have formal authority, but he can look to broker his policy. America and the world is suffering and its time for him to demonstrate that he is different in results not just in race. The bar has been raised for President-elect Obama. We can all hope and pray he is up to the challenge.
Tim
Tim:
Thanks for your comments. It’s nice to hear democracy is at work with my grandchildren.
The first clue will come today with the Obama press conference. He’s seems anxious to take the reins. Will he talk about plans, or will we get another global vision speech.
Bill