TW: I like Al Hunt alot. He writes on the looming challenges the POTUS-elect will face. Much of the limited specifics provided by either candidate will be tossed due to the evolving realities facing the US and the world. What becomes important will be the judgment, management capabilities and charisma of the new leader.
From Hunt/Bloomberg:
"...A sobering reality will hit: This new president inherits the most troubled country, in domestic and foreign policy, of any new leader since Franklin Roosevelt.
...Obama, when asked what policy changes this new environment requires or what sacrifices are necessary, talks vaguely about the need to ``start thinking'' about energy conservation and the like. He refuses to cite any significant spending cuts he would make in light of the new fiscal situation.
He suggests the country can have universal health-care coverage, make a huge downpayment on energy independence and fund expensive alternative-energy sources, enact a variety of new domestic initiatives and cut taxes for 80 percent of Americans. All in his first term.
That is good politics in the fall of 2008; it will make for difficult governance in 2009.
The impracticality of McCain's programs is more serious. His pledge to balance the budget in four years -- repeated earlier this month, well after the impact of the fiscal crisis hit -- is a travesty, neither desirable nor achievable...Asked how he would get there, he first trots out the old, and now tired, saw of ending earmarked funds for special projects, which is insignificant fiscally.
He espouses a freeze in discretionary spending, which is also bad policy. A few small examples: Would a President McCain cut, in real terms, spending for the National Institutes of Health and research efforts to find cures for diseases like cancer and Alzheimer's? His running mate, Sarah Palin, says the McCain-Palin administration would increase funding for the NIH, a scientific agency. In Florida, McCain talked about funding for the space program. What else will be unfrozen?
There are only two ways to even start down the road to a balanced budget: cut back on the growth in entitlements, such as Social Security and Medicare, and scale back the $4.2 trillion of tax cuts over 10 years that the Arizona Republican has promised. On these, McCain is silent; he has asked no sacrifice of wealthier Americans.
Winning in Iraq?
On foreign policy, there will also be a sobriety check shortly after Nov. 4...And it's a good bet the next president, at some stage, will be confronted with the reality that the greatest foreign policy issue facing America, economically and strategically, during the next generation will be China.
China has been absent from the agenda on the campaign trail. In the debates, it was mentioned only in passing, chiefly by both McCain and Obama noting that the U.S. is a half-trillion dollars in debt to the Chinese...
Moreover, as Goodwin notes, some of the greatest presidents displayed similar gaps before getting to the White House. Abraham Lincoln was criticized for not speaking out more forcefully as the Union was dissolving before he assumed office. In 1932, Roosevelt, while calling for the bold experimentation he would undertake, also campaigned on a balanced budget.
There have been grand moments in this campaign, which, like other epic political contests -- 1932, 1960 and 1980 -- will be the stuff of conversation among our grandchildren. In 40 years of covering presidential races, never have I seen more eloquence or enthusiasm.
If, as most everyone expects, Obama wins, the crucial turning point would have been mid-September when the financial crisis really began to be felt. This was a momentous event, and he chose not to pander to the passions of the bloviators and soundbite merchants. He was calm, confident, measured, thoughtful. It was what a scared electorate wanted.
Toss in a dollop of inspiration, and he will need all of this in the times ahead.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a_1KWTpDnKhw
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