Anyone who doubted Obama’s commitment to a paradigm-shifting agenda should have had their fears allayed by now. Make no mistake: Obama is the real deal, a New Deal for the 21st century. He is that rare politician who is actually following through on his campaign promises: from health care to the Iraq War, from tax reform to ethics reform, to even serious climate change legislation.
Obama’s agenda is so far-reaching that I think many on the Left have yet to realize what an amazing opportunity this is to reshape the country. While there are things to criticize about some of his cabinet choices, aspects of his bank bailout plan, and his foreign policy, Obama is a man on a mission who has thrown incrementalism to the wind.
Included in his recent budget is the most progressive redistribution of wealth in decades. By letting Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy expire in 2010, reducing the value of itemized deductions for those making over $250,000, and closing many corporate loopholes, Obama is telling the elites that it is time for them to contribute more to the greater good that is the foundation of their prosperity. Much of the additional revenue from these steps will be used to put a significant down payment on universal healthcare.
On the climate change front, Obama’s plan is an economist’s dream. Instead of giving away the pollution permits for greenhouse gases he is going to make companies pay for them; this will create a revenue stream which Obama plans to use to permanently reduce tax rates for low-income Americans and to fund renewable energy projects. This will help mitigate the regressive nature of higher energy prices, and help transition the economy to less carbon-intensive technologies.
Obama has also been extremely savvy by including in his budget all the costs of war and the annual fixes to the alternative minimum tax. This will not only make it easier for him to demonstrate progress on cutting the budget deficit, it provides a more sober and reality-based assessment of the country’s long-term fiscal needs.
The next phase of Obama’s plan is entitlement reform. The elephant in the room is Medicare, which by some projections is headed for deficits in the tens of trillions. Obama, of course, hopes that some sort of universal healthcare system will bring down costs and enable the country to get the problem under control.
Doing even half of what he proposes would make him Obama a great president. If he can pull off his entire agenda, he will truly be a once-in-a-lifetime figure.
Elections have consequences.
Jason Scorse