Here they come-- trillions of dollars for economic recovery, trillions for health care, trillions for--well, you name it--and oh, yes, more troops for Afghanistan. The Washington Post's David Broder writes, "The size of the gambles that President Obama is taking every day is simply staggering" and talks of "the unbelievable stakes he has placed on the table." Well, he's got that right, for sure.
Will he succeed? I have no idea. He insists passivity won't work. He's probably right about that. See: Bush, George W. Obama says we will rebuild, but that's what presidents say, of course. See: Roosevelt, Franklin D.
My guess is that the economy will turn around during his term because that's what economies do, sooner or later. It's hard to see how all this rescue money can hurt. And economic success will probably be enough to get him reelected. Harder to foretell is what will happen in remote placed like Afghanistan. One place to start might be by appointing some people who know the region to take a hard new look at what our interests there really are--do we need to fight a war there, and all that. It's usually harder to get out of such messes than into them. Having people think about how to leave might help.
"May you live in interesting times" is supposed to be a Chinese curse, but this president has jumped at all these challenges as if he loved them. It will be interesting, however it turns out.
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