Mr. Obama's Agenda for 2010

Most of the country has been focused on the special election in Massachusetts and the effects that this will have on the agenda put forward last year after Mr. Obama's ascension to the office of President of the United States. Without a doubt it will have a chilling effect on that agenda, though signals from the White House emanating from David Axlerod are that Mr. Obama will continue to push ahead, regardless of the outcome of yesterday's election.

To date, the largest victory Mr. Obama has achieved is to frame the argument over the government seizure of health care as "health care reform". This has been charectorized as akin to Stalin's collectivization of agriculture in the 1920's as "agricultural reform" (remember that millions starved). Ed Driscoll comments, "That effort to bring hope and change to the Kulaks succeeded in what President Obama described as his goal of “spreading the wealth around,” though not, perhaps, in precisely a way that the local (de)population appreciated."

The biggest flaw in the naked attempt to take over the health care sector was the promise to make the process open/transparent. That never happened. Glenn Reynolds of Insapundit.com fame, believes that, "lies don’t work as well as they used to. Obama promised transparency and pragmatic good government, but delivered closed-door meetings and outrageous special-interest payoffs. This made people angry. If Republicans promise honesty and less-intrusive government, but go back to their old ways, the likelihood that the Tea Party will become a full-fledged third party is much greater. Are the Republicans smart enough to realize this? I don’t know. The Democrats weren’t smart enough to look at Virginia and New Jersey and realize that what they were doing was a mistake that would backfire."

The second leg in Mr. Obama's statist agenda is seize ever more control for the government in the form of the "Cap & Trade" bill. If this bill is enacted it will be the largest single tax increase in the history of our country. It purportedly places a cap on CO2 emissions while permitting the trade in excess "credits." Heavy taxes would be levied on gasoline, heating oil, coal fired electrical plants, etc.
The states have long been seen as a laboratory for possible national policies. With this in mind, the state of California has already implemented most of the policies that are planned for inclusion in the "Cap & Trade" bill. Implementation of those policies has been somewhat less than successful.

There now exists in the Golden Bear state a "burgeoning regulatory regime" that is closely tied to the threat of global warming has turned the state into a virtual "no go" zone for economic development. Not only do companies have to contend with sky high taxes, but rapidly cascading energy prices and expanding regulations. In addition, companies now face mandatory audits for their impact on global warming. Thus, jobs have been streaming out of the state and into those that are far friendlier. So, it has become much easier to move to Texas--or if necessary, China.

The third item on Mr. Obama's agenda is to grant a pardon every illegal alien presently in the United States. Following that, immediate citizenship. He desires to do this as the Democratic Party see's these instant citizens (some 15-20 million people) as instant members of the progressive party. That would permanently tilt the balance of power toward the Democratic Party. However taking this radical step has it's perils, especially in times of recession, such as exist now. It could trigger a huge turning ground swell of opposition by people who feel doubly threatened, first by the government's new tax levies, and secondly by "new" citizens taking jobs.
This then is the agenda
that Mr. Obama desired to have completed in his first year of office, freeing up the second year to puff legislation designed to enlarge the Democratic majorities in both houses. Both David Axelrod and David Plouffe has indicated that such legislation will be pushed heavily in the coming months. Though with many legislators in the ranks of the Democrats in both the House and Senate may not be nearly as amendable as they were through most of last year.