MLK, Obama And A New Day for Socialism

The markets were closed yesterday giving everyone a chance to catch their breath. If you had to work, you enjoyed a shorter commute than usual. If you’re retired, well – you didn’t have a commute yesterday or today. I’m jealous.

Regardless of your station in life, almost everyone reflected on a certain Martin Luther King, Jr. It almost seems providential that our nation celebrated Dr. King’s legacy yesterday. The same nation that watched MLK ascend the steps of the Lincoln Memorial for his “I Have a Dream” speech will watch Barack Obama give a speech at the nation’s capitol as the first black president just 46 years later. Being more than a generation removed from the 1960s – and a world removed from the circumstances that African-Americans lived through in this country – I cannot fully appreciate the momentous occasion in which we find ourselves. Indeed, this day will be remembered for another generation as a cultural milestone. Congratulations, Mr. President.

If you follow most of the circulation-hemorrhaging press, you will read many more such sentiments today. Most of the mainstream media will lavish praise on the new administration as it reports on the “change” that Obama’s campaign promised. The public does seem to be welcoming. Perhaps it’s because President Bush leaves office with an approval rating approaching Nixon, or perhaps most Americans are just happy not to see another Clinton in the White House. Whatever the reason, Obama’s ascendency has been lauded – and will be lauded – for many weeks to come.

And yet, it’s difficult not to see the new administration in light of their stated financial objectives. Not satisfied with the Bush-Paulson TARP, Obama wants to further socialize the US economy with $825 billion more debt. His first stated order of business is passing this financial behemoth. One Obama aide underscored Obama’s unabashed support for the new package by saying, “We have got to get an economic recovery and reinvestment plan in place quickly to turn the economy around.”

In the same CNN article, Obama is quoted, “The good news is that we’re getting a consensus around what needs to be done. We’ve got to have a bold, aggressive reinvestment in a recovery package.” I beg your pardon. Mr. President, do you really have a consensus on handing out nearly $1,000,000,000,000 in government money to banks, public works projects, and tax cuts?

“Surely the Democrat leadership in Congress doesn’t plan to spend a trillion dollars of taxpayer money — nearly $10,000 in new debt for everyone who pays federal income tax, charged to the credit card for our children to pay — without safeguards, without appropriate hearings to scrutinize how tax dollars are being spent,”

Senator Mitch McConnell, Kentucky

“Many of us are concerned that 40% of the package that was announced was to be tax cuts”

Senator Dianne Feinstein, California

“I think it has absolutely dire consequences for the value of the dollar. And I think it has absolutely dire consequences with regard to inflation, the middle class and all Americans will one day face and I think it has absolutely dire consequences with the regard to the purchasing power of the dollars we hold globally,”

Governor Mark Sanford, South Carolina

The honeymoon hasn’t even started and the snipes are already coming from both parties. And yet, it’s the duty of every American who hates to see misdeeds rewarded with MasterCards and bankruptcies rewarded with bailouts to oppose such measures. Not everybody was pleased with Bush’s final stimulus push in his waning presidency. Historical election or not, we’re not exactly welcoming the same sort of socialism from the new administration. Change? Yeah, right.

Welcome to Washington, Mr. President.

photo credit: Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com