Thursday, November 6, 2008

Currying Favor While the Economy Lurks

It's hard to believe there's almost two and a half months to go before Barack Obama is inaugurated. Already, people and interests are maneuvering, schmoozing, and fighting to curry favor with the new president. There are some hard facts as to appointments. We do know he's offered Rahm Emanuel the job of chief of staff. He's also got the outlines of a transition team in place. He knows he's got to hit the ground running, and the economy will be his first priority.

If there's a subtext to the way out of the current economic mess, it would have to be what to do with that $700 billion dollars that's supposed to buoy the financial markets. Remember that at first, the money was supposed to be used to buy up bad assets of financial institutions. That mission has obviously changed. At least some of that money will be used to capitalize the banks. Our president-elect will have to figure out how it will be disbursed, and to whom. Will he change the initial terms and outlays the banks were told about a few weeks ago?

And what about the possibility of another economic stimulus package? Democrats in Congress, lead by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have this as a priority. It's not known yet if Barack Obama shares the immediacy of that agenda. He might, since all signs point to a grim 2009 on the economic front. There will be layoffs, and they could reach huge numbers all across the country. People thrown out of work will have problems paying their bills, meaning the mortgage crisis will continue, and consumer spending will continue its decline.

All of this speaks to the hard work ahead for the incoming president. George W. Bush hasn't left him much to work with. If there's a silver lining to all these clouds, it's contained in what a friend told me at the gym earlier today. "Barack is a smart man. He's going to surround himself with smart people. They'll figure a way to deal with this".

Is my friend right? You tell me.

2 comments:

sanda said...

Yes, he will surround himself with smart people and President Elect Obama is smart himself and a superb community organizer. (Silly pundits don't realize that community organizing skills don't just mean winning an election, but problem solving of all kinds in communities.)

BUT, there have been two other smart presidents in recent and one other to whom he is frequently paired in history (which makes me anxious because JFK had a bad ending to his/our story). All 3 were smart. Carter was said to be overly involved with the details and never got "integrated" into the Washington beltway crowd and its ways. (What do I know?) Bill Clinton got pushed to the Right, and some of his folks are around Barack Obama. I am hoping someone does good short bios on his smart folks, from transition team to appointments. (I'm not a fan of speculating, although I am a political junkie since I became physically ill and less physically active.) Rahm Emanuel is someone I am newly hearing about on DemNow and political blogs (Dems).

I am fascinated by people starting to organize for various agenda. I am still recovering from the Election:catching up on sleep. Got my writing work done and soon to mail, I hope. I am just NOW feeling the realness of the moment:yes Obama won. Now can we?

While JFK got into the Cuban missle crisis, his smart staff got him out (Bobby Kennedy and Sorenson I think were doing a lot of the good suggestions behind the scenes, we now know.)

Finally, I have faith in Obama's organizing and problem solving skills.

Jesse Jackson's tear lined face, the photo of him in Grant Park, will stay with me for a long time. I am of that age. And you know what JJ says "Keep Hope Alive". (And I voted for JJ twice)

sanda said...

PS I did not hear in the list of percentages of what groups voted for Obama (color,age,etc), so I just googled: "What percentage of Jews voted for Obama Nov. 4,2008?" I found that exit polls said, 78%.

I have noticed that very often, people make separate categories for Jews and whites, which I do myself. That 78% is higher than the "white" voters category. Evidence for separate groupings.