Obama and the Economy 11

The New York Times: Reports that the Obama Economic Plan has no Tax Hikes for the rich. The Liberal New York Times will not be happy, they breath tax hikes for the rich. President - Elect Obama should be saluted for not pandering to the Liberal Left wing of his Party. It is the rich that invest in the economy through spending and investing in the economy. Obama should consider making the Bush Tax Cuts permanent, if there still a recession in 2010 when the Bush Tax cuts end the last thing you do is raise taxes, Obama and the Democrats will face mid term elections in 2010, the one thing you don't want is to be known as a tax hiker during a recession.

Obama and the CIA

Fox News: Reports that Bill Clinton's Chief of Staff, Leon Panetta has been asked by the President Elect to be next head of the CIA. This could be a good choice, Panetta knows how the systems works, he has been a White House Chief Staff thus should know how to get things going when it is an issue of National Security. The one downside is that the Republicans will ask a lot of searching questions of Mr Panetta about the role of the Clinton Administration before 9/11. Did the Clinton Administration see the threat and how did they react, the confirmation hearings should be fun to watch, should be an easy pass for Mr Panetta but there will be tough questions. It should be noted that President George H.W. Bush was also a Director of the CIA and he came from being UN Ambassador and Chair of the RNC. It is considered that Mr Bush did well as Director of the CIA, lets hope Mr Panetta is that successful in the post.

Obama and the Economy

BBC News: Reports on the Obama economic plan to pump eight hundred billion dollars in to the economy. It has been called the New Deal of the 21st Century, one problem, it was the not the New Deal that bought the USA out of the Great Depression of the 1930s, it was World War Two that made the USA a economic power house, the UK went bankrupt in the process and thus the end of Empire. The Obama Economic Plan will soften the fall of the USA economy but then what, all this money on public works will take time to get going, if the economy is in recession in two years time the Democrats could lose their majority in Congress. It could be argued that there is a need for capital spending on roads, schools etc, but also deep tax cuts for individuals and business and deep cuts in government spending, areas that pander to the Democratic base, thus we shall see if the Obama Plan works, out of ten it could be argued that it has 5/10 of working, if does not work Obama could lose in 2012.

Bill Richardson - OUT

MSNBC: Reports that New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson has pulled out as the Nominee for Commerce Secretary due to a Federal Investigation in his state. This is a great surprise, was aware of the investigation but Richardson is such a straight arrow, are the Obama Team looking for no waves at all during the confirmations hearings, well what about Bill Clinton and his business dealings, that will raise a few questions. The Clintons will be smiling, Richardson was seen as a Judas by some in the Clinton Camp for his support of President - Elect Obama. Richardson will be back, he has a future in the Democratic Party.

Obama and Gaza

Guardian: Has an article on the negative perception that President - Elect Obama is having in the Middle East, the issue his lack of comment on the Gaza Crisis, the article states the following, " The danger is that when he finally peers over the parapet on January 21, the battle of perceptions may already be half-lost. " The article misses a simple point about American politics, as the late Speaker of the House of Representatives Tip O' Neill pointed out in his excellent Memoir both Presidents Carter and Reagan asked about the power of the Jewish Lobby in American Politics, as O' Neill pointed out there are many more Jewish Americans in the USA than of other religions from the Middle East. Thus USA policy towards Israel has many aspects, political, culture, economic, an American President if he wants to get re - elected will always at the end of the day support Israel, thus Obama's change message might not be what the Arabs of the Middle East thought it would be, Obama might be tougher with Israel but at the end of the day he will support Israel.

EU Policy over Gaza ?

The Times: Reports on the confused statements from the EU on the crisis in Gaza. That is the problem with the EU, different countries have different interests and views of the conflict, some support Palestinians while others, in most cases the old Warsaw countries support Israel. There will never be a United Foreign Policy for Europe, they could never organise a tea party in a brewery. At the end of the day its down to the USA, Bush 43 supports Israel, Obama will not change policy that much to please Europe, American Politics is first, Obama wants to get re- elected in 2012. If it comes down to placing troops to monitor a ceasefire the old Europe will run a mile with their tails between their legs, they are weak, just look at their weak response to Afghanistan, a NATO operation but as usual has the UK, USA and Canada in front, taking the losses. They day that Europe will take to the line and protect that line is the day that people will listen to the EU.

The Long Haul in Gaza for Israel

Telegraph: Reports on the battle between the Hamas Terrorist group and Israel, also that Israel is in for the long haul. It will be interesting to see if the conflict is still going on after January 20th what President Obama will do about the crisis. The new Administration will have to hit the ground running, the Wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, the aged old conflict between Pakistan and India and the present conflict in Gaza. Also economic 9/11 that faces the Western economy will also be on the Oval Office Desk for President Obama. Let hope the President - Elect has an early night; not to many Inaugural Parties; work will start early for him on January 21st 2009.