John McCain’s Presidential obituary was etched in stone at the conclusion of his third and final debate with Barack Obama. He failed to score the points he needed…failed to put Obama on the defensive over his redistribution tax package, failed to utter a single memorable line that clearly delineated a compelling reason to vote against Obama or for McCain. I recall a poignant moment the weekend before the election with a well-read, well-informed internet savvy neighbor, a wealthy female Republican who had watched all three of the McCain-Obama debates. During a ride to New York to see a play I asked her to tell me three things John McCain would do as President. She gave me a blank stare. I then asked her what Obama would do. “Cut taxes,” she said. Checkmate.
In the end, Obama stole big chunks of the Republican playbook, and actually convinced Americans he would do a better job cutting taxes than McCain. And thanks to an ever-helpful mainstream media, got away with changing his position on health care, Iraq, Afganistan, taxes, gay marriage, abortion, telecom immunity, public financing of campaigns, gun control, trade, and jettisoning his long-time minister Rev Wright. Obama’s victory is living proof that America is still a center-right country. For every post-primary move Obama made was too the right, a bow to that very reality; an assertion ratified by exit poll data showing that self-described conservatives still outnumber liberals in the United States.
Joe Biden spoke truth during the campaign when he said Obama would be tested during his first six months. He most certainly will, but here’s guessing that the test will not come from Russia or China or even some pipsqueak despot in Iran. It will come from the career liberals in Congress, the old left-wing barons who owe their seats to a constituency far different than the one which elected Obama; pseudo socialists who will quickly and conveniently forget that Obama won the election by moving right, not left. Our treasury is hemorrhaging money. Every hand is out; every business is pleading for a government infusion of cash, the invoice about to be sent to an unborn generation of Americans. Obama doesn’t have the money to keep the promises he made. As Reagan was tested by the Air Traffic Controllers, Obama will be tested by his own Congress. If Obama wants to avoid the fate of the last two Democratic Presidents, he will draw a line in the sand and stand down his own party some time very early in his term. The left-wingers in Congress need to know that the guy sleeping on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue is not going to be rolled. Obama’s selection of Rahm Emanuel as his Chief of Staff suggests that he’s already learned lessons from the mistakes of Presidents Carter and Clinton.
