Bush, Obama, the Bail-out, and More

The election of Barack Obama, credit crisis, and moves by Democrats in Congress to advance a radical agenda all suggest 2009 will be an epochal year in American politics. Basic economic liberties are under greater threat now than at any time since World War II.

Saying Goodbye to President Bush

Over the years, I’ve heard President George W. Bush give speeches without the benefit of a teleprompter and they were, without exception, outstanding. He showed intelligence, wit, and a solid grasp of free-market principles on a wide range of issues from taxes and environmental regulation to school choice and Social Security reform, and he communicated well.

But it was a different George Bush who delivered a farewell address on January 15. He read from the teleprompter with the too-familiar sing-song delivery that is so easily mocked by liberal comedians, because it should be mocked. Its monotonous rhythm conveyed no intelligence or conviction, regardless of the words that came out of his mouth. He sounded stupid.

I was never in the hate-Bush camp, even though like most libertarians and conservatives I “disapproved” of how he handled the war in Iraq, failed to rein in government spending, and mishandled the credit crisis. His commitment to advancing the cause of individual freedom at home and abroad, so wonderfully expressed in his Second Inaugural Address, made me give him the benefit of the doubt. His steadfast opposition to tax increases and truly bad policies in health care and environmental regulation will be sorely missed in the years to come.

Saying Hello to President Obama

All Americans should come together and hope President Barack Obama will turn out to be a fine president with solid judgment and good character. Having promised the moon to get elected, he now faces the challenge of delivering the goods to an anxious and distrustful nation and world.

The president’s opponents like to say Obama is the most liberal and least prepared man ever to occupy the Oval Office. I believe both points are true. Prior to his run for the office, Obama probably had never hired or fired a single person. His political career was spawned and planned by a “Baptists and Bootleggers” alliance of Hyde Park liberals and Daley Machine apparatchiks.

The new president’s mentors were pony-tailed socialists and former Weathermen who were (thankfully) largely blocked from political relevancy during the 1980s and 1990s. He owes his political success to aldermen and Chicago ward heelers whose entire political philosophy can be summed up in three words: pay to play. We shouldn’t be surprised that socialists and crooked politicians would find themselves on the same side in an election, since both pursue political power to achieve their ends.

Whatever forces propelled him to the White House, Obama is his own man now, and the most powerful man in the world. No one really knows what he will do, and I suspect he doesn’t know yet, either. Populist themes can win elections, but socialism doesn’t lead to economic growth and doesn’t respect individual liberty, two things the American people will insist on over the next four years.

The Credit Crisis and Bail-Out

We are told that since September, the nation’s economy has been in the grip of a “credit crisis” that only a $700 billion bail-out of the nation’s banks and other financial institutions could solve. Bush asked for a blank check and Congress pretty much gave it to him, and as near as anyone can tell, the money has been spent, loaned, or “invested” and the crisis continues.

Predictably, Congress wanted to dip into the bail-out fund to support favored industries--car manufacturers first. Just as predictably, Bush applied the brakes oh-so-gently and then caved in, approving the grab with vague and probably ineffective terms and conditions. The Federal Reserve is frantically pulling every lever it can reach in hopes of stimulating the economy and restoring stock prices, but once again, nothing seems to work.

I don’t pretend to be smarter than all the bankers and economists who are involved in the great debate over how to deal with the credit crisis. Heartland’s issue specialists and policy advisors have been writing about and debating the issue, and we’ve posted on our Web site what we believe are some of the best articles written on the issue. It’s been enough for me to reach some conclusions.

The conditions that brought about the credit crisis were created by a long list of government actions, starting with tax and monetary policies and mismanagement by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Crooks and criminals took advantage of the situation to make their fortunes before the house of cards collapsed on the rest of us. Ill-conceived “mark-to-market” rules and indications that the government would bail out players who are “too big to fail” turned what would have been a short recession, as bad investments were washed out of the system, into a possible depression.

The Coming Health Care War

The elections of Obama and larger majorities of Democrats in the House and Senate mean health care will be a major battleground for the next four years and beyond. Expanding SCHIP--the State Children’s Health Insurance Program--will be the Obama administration’s first victory on health care reform. Bush, much to his credit, vetoed past attempts to expand SCHIP.

The Democrats’ next victory will be a “health IT” subsidy package funded from the stimulus package. House Democrats put $20 billion in their first proposal to digitize medical record keeping, insurance and entitlement payment, and prescription fulfillment systems. Some of this is probably good and even overdue, but this isn’t the government’s business, and getting the feds involved will cause a lot of outrage among doctors and consumer privacy advocates.

The third Democrat health care initiative will be an expansion of Medicare to cover adults 55 years and older (Senator Max Baucus’s plan) or an “Edward Kennedy Memorial Health Insurance for All” bill that will feature all the bureaucracy, regulations, and restrictions that brought down the Clinton administration’s attempt to nationalize health care in 1994. But this time, the votes may be in the House and Senate to pass it.

We have to fight tooth-and-nail this third initiative, and if it is passed quickly before we can gear up enough opposition to stop it, then we must immediately work to repeal it. Nationalized health care is a major threat to our health, our freedom, and the nation’s economy. We cannot let this pass while the nation is distracted by the credit crisis or during a honeymoon with a newly elected and charismatic president.

A Final Stand on Global Warming

Obama thinks “global warming” is man-made and a crisis and that we ought to “do something” about it. Plenty of Democrats in Congress believe the same thing. I respectfully disagree, and thanks in part to our educational efforts, most Americans do as well.

Fewer than half (47 percent) of Americans polled by the Pew Research Center just a few months ago said they believe humans are causing global warming, and a declining number even believe the Earth is experiencing a warming trend. All polls show Americans are unwilling to pay more for energy to combat this mythical threat.

Democrats have introduced “carbon tax” and “cap-and-trade” legislation and hope to slip something by voters before they notice it, but we won’t let them. In addition to our usual government relations and media efforts, we are hosting another international conference on climate change--once again in New York--in March, and we expect to generate extensive public awareness of the fact that most scientists don’t believe global warming is a crisis.

With an economy in crisis and the federal deficit likely to exceed $1 trillion, I don’t think the votes will be there to pass meaningful global warming legislation in 2009. I also believe that if such legislation doesn’t pass in 2009, it may be dead for the rest of an Obama term. Other issues will push it down the agenda and new science and cooler weather will make a mockery of the alarmists’ predictions.

Global warming is an epic battle that we stand to win in 2009. It is a small ray of sunshine in what otherwise promises to be a very gloomy year for freedom.

Joseph Bast (jbast@heartland.org) is president of The Heartland Institute.