Next Tuesday is the beginning of a defining time in our history. The inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama will take place at high noon on the west steps of the Capitol building and will usher in a new era. It is fitting that his historic inauguration follows the holiday dedicated to a man who could only dream of the day when America would elect an African-American President.
Never before has there been such enthusiasm and expectations bestowed upon an incoming President. The image of nearly half a million people filling Chicago's Grant Park on election night was enough to put even the ultra-conservative in awe. His mere presence, sprinkled with articulate dialogue, has given millions of people all over the world something to believe in, and he is viewed as a beacon of hope to many who have struggled in recent years.
Obama has a lot to live up to, and it's going to take years and many tough decisions to get America back on track. The economy will be his first priority, and he may want to take a look at history before making any rash decisions. His proposed stimulus package and public works projects to put people to work echo the policies of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, which many historians and economists agree didn't significantly contribute to the United States rising out of the Great Depression.
In fact, one offspring of the New Deal, the Social Security Administration, should be high up on President-elect Obama's reform list as it is currently burning through more cash than it is taking in. As for his proposed stimulus package, its cost has been estimated at over $1 trillion, which would add to the already ballooning $10 trillion national debt and possibly cripple future generations with a huge bill to pay. It is even debatable whether a stimulus would work as the previous smaller stimulus was merely a Band-Aid on a broken system and didn't jump start the economy as was hoped.
To be successful, Obama must do a balancing act. He must balance pumping money into the economy with the future repercussions of more debt. He has to reform the federal bureaucracy and streamline its numerous agencies and administrations to save money and make them operate more efficiently. He should emphasize education reform instead of injecting more money into a system that is not producing adequate results. He needs to make healthcare available to more Americans and veto any unnecessary pork barrel legislation.
All these things will be extremely hard to change and some impossible to do without more spending, but they are crucial to our future and, as Obama said in his acceptance speech, "The road ahead will be long; our climb will be steep."
America's future begins on Tuesday, and millions are counting on him to turn things around. His Presidency will make or break it for future generations of Americans and have many far-reaching effects throughout the world. If he succeeds, Obama's name will someday be mentioned in the same sentence as that other guy from Illinois, and we'll all be able to claim him as our savior.
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