- MENU
- HOME
- SEARCH
- WORLD
- MAIN
- AFRICA
- ASIA
- BALKANS
- EUROPE
- LATIN AMERICA
- MIDDLE EAST
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Argentina
- Australia
- Austria
- Benelux
- Brazil
- Canada
- China
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- India
- Indonesia
- Ireland
- Israel
- Italy
- Japan
- Korea
- Mexico
- New Zealand
- Pakistan
- Philippines
- Poland
- Russia
- South Africa
- Spain
- Taiwan
- Turkey
- USA
- BUSINESS
- WEALTH
- STOCKS
- TECH
- HEALTH
- LIFESTYLE
- ENTERTAINMENT
- SPORTS
- RSS
- iHaveNet.com: Politics
by Victor Davis Hanson
Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and both the elder and younger George Bush all found the third and fourth years of their presidencies harder than the first and second. The nation and the world tired of speechmaking. The novelty of a new commander in chief faded; poll numbers went south. The same thing is now happening to President Obama on a variety of fronts.
Democrats assured voters that we would love ObamaCare once the new federal health care plan was at last implemented. Republican critics warned that we would like it even less once we saw it unfold. We will soon see who is right, as the four-year implementation begins in earnest during 2011. But if 100 organizations and corporations have already obtained exemptions from the Obama administration, how many more will seek to avoid the new law in 2011?
Something also has to give on the budget this year. Keynesian spending was supposed to jump-start the economy and bring in more federal revenue. Instead, borrowing another
For the last two years, there have been two energy assumptions of the Obama administration. One, the global economic downturn in late 2008 that saw oil prices crash would give strapped American consumers a sudden gift of cheaper gas without much government action. Two, solar and wind power and "millions of new green jobs" would also usher in our alternative-energy future.
But harsh realities have intervened. While the Obama administration was making it far harder to develop oil and gas on government-owned Western lands, and hampering offshore drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, the world economy was recovering -- and with it, energy demands were increasing. As oil now approaches
With the new proposed defense cuts, the
Perhaps all U.S. troops will soon leave Afghanistan and Iraq, while China will not flex its muscles against Taiwan or Japan. Maybe North Korea will not attack South Korea. Cyprus probably will stay quiet. The former Soviet republics in theory could improve their relations with Russia. The Balkans should remain peaceful. Israel does not want another war with
Finally, President Obama has proclaimed a new willingness to seek comprise and consensus with Republican opposition. However, the new Republican-controlled
So in 2011 we will see whether Obama still talks of his opponents as "enemies" who need to be "punished" and kept in the "backseat," or if he is willing to concede that bipartisanship now may mean that his liberal vision of 2009 was rendered inoperative by the political reality of last November.
On a variety of fronts -- health care, the budget, defense and politics -- we have heard lots of easy rhetoric the last two years. But now the reckoning comes due in 2011 -- and it may be not a pretty thing to watch.
Read the latest political news.
Available at Amazon.com:
God of Liberty: A Religious History of the American Revolution
Jimmy Carter: The American Presidents Series: The 39th President, 1977-81
The Disappearing Center: Engaged Citizens, Polarization, and American Democracy
The Virtues of Mendacity: On Lying in Politics
Bush on the Home Front: Domestic Policy Triumphs and Setbacks
The Political Fix: Changing the Game of American Democracy, from the Grassroots to the White House
Revival: The Struggle for Survival Inside the Obama White House
Renegade: The Making of a President
Year of Meteors: Stephen Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, and the Election that Brought on the Civil War
AMERICAN POLITICS
WORLD | AFRICA | ASIA | EUROPE | LATIN AMERICA | MIDDLE EAST | UNITED STATES | ECONOMICS | EDUCATION | ENVIRONMENT | FOREIGN POLICY | POLITICS
The Tab Comes Due in 2011 | Politics
© Tribune Media Services