The Best Laid Plans of Barack Obama
By Allen
J Duffis
Published: January 25, 2009
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"The best laid plans of mice and men do oft times go astray."
Have We Been Here Before?  In 1948, Adali Ewing Stevenson ll entered the Illinois gubernatorial race as a Democrat and, in an upset victory, defeating the incumbent Republican Dwight H. Green in a landslide. The following unaccredited quote is widely considered to be an apt description of the man: "He was a popular public speaker, gaining a reputation as an intellectual, with a self-deprecating sense of humor to match." At the 1952 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Stevenson, as the governor of the host state, gave the welcoming address to the delegates. His speech was so stirring and witty that it is credited with stampeding his nomination for president. Despite his protestations, he was drafted, and he accepted the Democratic nomination with a speech that according to contemporaries, "electrified the nation:" "When the tumult and the shouting die, when the bands are gone and the lights are dimmed, there is the stark reality of responsibility in an hour of history haunted with those gaunt, grim specters of strife, dissension, and materialism at home, and ruthless, inscrutable, and hostile power abroad. The ordeal of the twentieth century – the bloodiest, most turbulent age of the Christian era – is far from over. Sacrifice, patience, understanding, and implacable purpose may be our lot for years to come. … Let’s talk sense to the American people! Let’s tell them the truth, that there are no gains without pains, that we are now on the eve of great decisions." Does the general tone of that speech sound recently familiar? The Challenge 
The politically astute and respected columnist, Fareed Zakaria, stated it best in a December 21, 2008 editorial in the Wall Street Journal: "Presidents cannot simply remain charismatic symbols. They are forced to tackle the problems at hand and their influence then grows -- or ebbs -- based on how they handle those challenges. However impressive they were as human beings, it was not in being but in doing that George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt built their enormous reputations. Whatever Obama may have thought when he began this journey, at a time when the war in Iraq was foremost in many voters' minds, whatever his campaign promises, his presidency will be judged on how he handles the economic crisis that envelops the United States and the world. For Obama to be remembered as a great president, he has to do nothing less than rescue capitalism" Obama's Plan to Cure Chaos President elect, Barack Obama, has chosen to take the path of 'known resistance' when constructing his cabinet. Instead of developing a new template for his political engine, and he has chosen to take bits and pieces of past administrations in an attempt to construct the - 'perfect machine'. And in executing this bold plan he has brought into the fold emissaries from both political parties. Obama has also chosen to approach to our economic problems by emulating the actions of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in the fashion he chose to bring our nation out of the Great Depression. 
In Obama's view the Clinton administration worked well, so he has liberally peppered his new team with former Clinton staff members. And as a professor of Law and Political Science, he is also known to regard the presidential administration of Abraham Lincoln quite highly. In light of this admiration it is his intention to graft onto his' grand Plan' to unite a divided America, parts of Lincoln's philosophical approach to the difficulties he faced after the Civil War. The problem with this approach is that it the product of - Theory. Theory when applied to an unknown problem or circumstance can often yield effective results - if there is time to accomodate error. However, when employed in the midst of ongoing chaos, time is at a premium, and what we are left at the mercy of is - educated guessing. President Obama, the ongoing crisis on so many fronts, is dangerously deteriorating each day. Clearly the situation dictates that we do not have the time for theory or intellectual approaches. The situation at hand requires effective positive leadership - now! Our World in Economic Strife At present, just about every undeveloped country on this planet is in some sort of conflict, heading toward a conflict or a deadly combination of the two. Simultaneously, the developed countries, bankers of the underdeveloped, are now undergoing economic strife not seen since the Great Depression during the Roosevelt administration. President Obama, the Banking and Credit System, the vital cornerstone of our world, not just that of America is broken. And as matters stand, the people we are left with to resolve this crisis - are the very people who broke the system. And to boot, we have a serious Available Energy Crisis to deal with at the worst possible time in our history. Such dangers President Roosevelt did not have to contend with, making it is highly questionable whether the knowledge gained from Roosevelt's crisis is of useful comparable value to the resolution of a present one 
For instance, how do we deal with a nuclear-armed, bankrupt Pakistan, a partner in a fragile two war truce with neighboring India - which is also nuclear armed. Keeping in mind that Pakistan is simultaneously fighting off encroachment by organized and well-funded militant factions from a neighboring state at war - Afghanistan? Or how do we deal with the irrational leadership of North Korea, with a starving population, also nuclear armed and willing to sell nuclear technology to the highest bidder? How do we deal with a nation that has a culturally paranoid leadership, Israel, surrounded by enemies, and which is highly dependent upon billions of dollars in aid from the US - at a time when we are drowning in our own debt.. And to make matters worse, we have a new power broker of the area - Iran. They too will soon be nuclear capable! 
Nor should I forget to mention that as we have, over the last four decades the US has preached the gospel of a nuclear free Middle East, while looking the other way, as - Israel built up a' forbidden' Middle East nuclear arsenal! Now we are close to having to face the unthinkable, the growing potential for - a Middle East nuclear war. President Obama, the problems President Roosevelt faced did not in any way reflect those we face now. In his time there were not starving masses in a multitude of countries, brush fire wars all over the world, or the portent of a nuclear war right in the middle of the world's greatest oil reserves. Most of Roosevelt challenges came about, as we were about to enter a world war, in which we had many allies to share the cost and burden. We are now involved in two wars in which we have few if any allies, and have to shoulder the cost of both conflicts. Simply put, the conditions were quite different than those we as a nation face at present, but they are nonetheless - real. President Obama, are you and your new administration up to this daunting task? Are you all that confident in your inexperienced approach to these problems? And most important of all, have you allowed enough turn around time if it isn't? Our World In Conflict  At present our world is a patchwork of violent conflicts that we have very little capability of influencing or controlling. Hordes of people are starving in Zimbabwe, and are dying in an endless multicultural conflict in Darfur. To make matters worse, we are on the edge of losing South America as a - safe not to worry about - continent at our back. Over the years, we've saved billions of dollars by not having to place troops of any significant number in this relatively friendly region. Not any more! A a newly resurgent Russia is making major diplomatic inroads into that area, forming a working alliance with Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez. This arrangement has allowed the Russians to construct large military landing fields in Venezuela with Chavez's enthusiastic support. In fact, the Russians are constructing the world's largest munitions factory complex, of which the main product will be the their AK-47 rifle. Meanwhile, Mexico, a once a friendly trading partner and non-hostile neighbor, is rapidly falling apart. So severe is the breakdown due to government corruption and powerful drug trade syndicates, it threatens to explode at any minute. Should the dissolution of this back door state come about, the flow of illegal immigrants will dwarf that which we have seen to date. Our Planet In Peril 
Despite the voices of the irrational and schizophrenic extreme Right, the planet Earth is truly undergoing rapid Global Warming. And like it or not, we humans are part and parcel of the cause and effect of this phenomenon. The only questions are - how severe and how long before it impacts the human element to the point that even the nay Sayers will be alarmed? Our planet is losing glacier ice to the oceans at what most sane scientist regard as an alarming rate. A delicate relation between our oceans and our ice controls all of the planet’s eco systems, and the balance keeps our atmosphere in livable check. But we humans with our massive industry are heating up the atmosphere, reversing that vital balance to directly impact the ice and oceans. And the ice is melting - far too rapidly. President Obama, what do you think you can do to alter this condition, which other presidents have failed at their best efforts to accomplish?
The Resounding Crash of Reality Now Mr. President the real challenge: changing the political nature of the American seat of power, Washington DC. John F. Kennedy tried to change it, and, by small well meaning initiatives, so did Lyndon Johnson, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton. For the most part, they all failed: not even managing to congressionally establish the 'Line Item Veto.' No President Obama, more than likely what you are about to run into in your quest for 'change', is best described in the following excerpt from a Washington Post editorial of late 2008: An Obama Gift for K Street By Robert J. Samuelson - Washington Post.com December 15, 2008 
We in Washington can anticipate a stampede of lobbyists, influence peddlers, media consultants, paid "experts" and self-styled crusaders. Who brought us this onslaught of special pleaders? Why, it's Barack Obama, the man who vowed to "change" how Washington works and banish from the political arena all those deplorable "special interests." This is one Obama promise doomed to fail. The only way to eliminate lobbying and special interests is to eliminate government. The more powerful government becomes, the more lobbying there will be. So, paradoxically, Obama's ambitions for more expansive government will promote special pleading. You need only watch the response to the expected "economic stimulus" plan -- totaling perhaps $700 billion -- to verify this eternal truth. "A Lobbying Frenzy for Federal Funds." So as the 1960's rock beat so well describes - "..and the beat goes on!" What Comes Next? 
In conclusion, I once again quote the learned columnist Fareed Zakaria: "The great sociologist Max Weber described the power of charisma as "a certain quality of an individual personality, by virtue of which he is set apart from ordinary men and treated as endowed with supernatural, superhuman, or at least specifically exceptional powers or qualities." Some of Barack Obama's supporters have at times sounded as if they saw "the one" in these terms. There's no doubt that Obama is intensely charismatic and that it provides him with unusual political capital. But very soon -- say on Jan. 20, 2009 -- his powers will start to mutate, and they will derive less from his persona and more from his office. He will shift, in Weber's terminology, from wielding charismatic authority to legal authority." Presidential candidate, Barack Obama, graciously promised everything to everyone who was disaffected during the Bush years, now as President he has to deliver. And like it or not, he is going to have to transform himself into the most despised figure in the eyes of the teaming youth oriented masses who drove him into office - a politician. Best of luck Mr. President, for as the old Beatles song goes, ..."It don't come easy.
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