Now that Barack Obama has finally become President of the United States, he must put his plans into motions. Grand ideals must transform into nuts and bolts, a campaign of change into possibly a deficit budget.
Hyperbole has become acceptable discourse in politics. Rather than debate the details of Stéphane Dion’s carbon tax and how it would be implemented, Stephen Harper called exaggerated the policy and called Dion another tax and spend Liberal (if a government is going to tax, it should be a consumption tax). Rather than introduce his own policies, John McCain tossed key words like Socialist at Obama. Superficial discussions and ad-hominem attacks triumphed, like they do in everyday like.
Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson won two huge victories for the Democratic Party. Both enjoyed a honeymoon with the American public and both Houses of Congress and pushed through as much legislation as they could. Roosevelt over-stepped his authority and tried to expand the Supreme Court; Johnson was slowly overcome by the Vietnam issue. Neither finished their campaign of change.
It’s possible to work hand, take care of the little things, break the cycle, and exceed the expectations of others but difficult. Obama needs to do as he promised: ignore politics and make decisions based on their merits, use the information that’s available to make his country more educated, and be willing to change his mind if it’s necessary to take the best course of action. Reverse the political trend and put self-actualizaiton over self-importance.