31 Comments

1. David Thomson:

“Will Barack govern as a traditional liberal…”

Not in the least. Barack Obama, if he wins, will govern as a radical left-winger. He will push the envelope as much as possible. Obama is the progeny of Saul Alinsky and other leftist ideologues. There is virtually no chance of his governing in a “triangulate” manner. First of all, he is a shallow and poorly read man. He simply lacks the education to transcend his ideological inclinations. Instead, he will follow his existential instincts.

Nov 4, 2008 - 10:34 am 2. Gaffe Prices:

Don’t worry about it, its not going to happen, the 0bamathon ends today.

Nov 4, 2008 - 10:46 am 3. Dee:

Sorry Roger, I don’t think he will lean to the center. I believe that he try to implement all the policies that he has said he will over the years. It will be interesting.

Nov 4, 2008 - 10:49 am 4. davidingeorgia:

one of the things that’s frustrated and, at times, infuriated me about the DC/Beltway/NYC Republican establishment is the assumption they keep making that Obama is going to play by traditional rules once he’s in office (with a huge Dem margority in Congress)…the rules WILL change, and to such a degree to make it virtually impossible for anyone other than a Dem to ever win an election again in this country (if they even bother having them, they’ll be shams)…Obama has absolutely zero in his background to indicate he’s anything other than a radical, leftwing, one-man-one-vote-one-time extremist…why people keep thinking he’s going to suddenly morph into Michael Dukakis or Jimmy Carter, I have no idea.

Nov 4, 2008 - 10:53 am 5. davidingeorgia:

jeez, be nice if I could spell though…majority! argh!

Nov 4, 2008 - 10:54 am 6. David Thomson:

I am going to risk boring people to death and repeat what I’ve many times in the past: Barack Obama has taken full advantage of the mindset contending that any “man of color” who seems warm and friendly cannot be truly dangerous. One supposedly cannot be harmed by someone who reminds you of Sidney Poitier or Bill Cosby. Thus, many people instinctively ignore the overwhelming evidence concerning Obama’s radicalism.

Nov 4, 2008 - 11:08 am 7. TexasDude:

Barack “Middle Finger” Obama is not a Bill Cosby nor a Sidney Poitier. Not even close.

Nov 4, 2008 - 11:25 am 8. Webrider:

Unfortunately, Obama comes across as a Danny Glover, solid and reassuring to those who don’t look past the packaging. Now, look at the radical leftist attitude of Danny Glover (not what he plays in the movies) and you’ll see what Obama is. An unrepentant Alinsky acolyte, not the “temperant racial healer” he projects (and the apologists who want to finally put racism to bed in this country project as well.) Hopefully, they will get an attack of conscience in the polling booth and NOT be able to vote for him. Perhaps this time, the Democrats will look at the disaster their far left screamers force on them in the primaries and finally say enough is enough, let us get back to the way this country is SUPPOSED to be run, and find some conservative thinking Democrats to put up. Even though Clinton was of the far left ilk, he was forced to become a triangulating centrist by Newt’s successful contract with America takeover of the halls of Congress. The unfortunate thing, is led by Delay’s K Street mentality the Republicans forgot why we voted them in, and went on a spending binge. Time to rein it all in, especially in light of our financial crisis.

Nov 4, 2008 - 11:34 am 9. Lightnin' Hopkins:

Assuming he wins, at least part of what he does will depend on whether the Dems get a super majority or not. If they do, all bets are off; a New Deal 2.0 on steroids.

I still think the PUMA effect, the “clingers” in PA, Ohio, and elsewhere, and the weighted pre-election polling being wildly inaccurate in recent years all point to a surprise McCain win. Either that, or I predict that I will be drinking heavily tonight. Okay – *more* heavily.

Nov 4, 2008 - 1:30 pm 10. strangelove:

I don’t think Obama is going to govern as a centrist. I think he will sell his programs as ‘reasonable’ and ‘moderate’ (much as he has campaigned), but I think underlying his governance will be a hard leftist agenda. In particular I’m concerned about the ‘fairness’ doctrine, gun control, taxes, his idea for a national police force and the gutting of the military. I don’t think there’s going to be much to stop him with a democratic supermajority in Congress.

What is most alarming is the complete lack of impartial reporting on the guy. I have no confidence the media will report accurately on any legislation he’s behind.

Nov 4, 2008 - 1:37 pm 11. Victor Erimita:

Nixon and Clinton each had Congress controlled by the opposing party. Obama doesn’t have that restriction.

Obama and the Dems who now rule the party have an enormous head of steam coming into 2009. They have 8 years of pent-up Bush rage and a mythic structure includes the narrative that their civil rights were violated for 8 years and the Marxist worldview that hates capitalism, America and anything humans do to “The Planet” other than have sex on it (providing, of course, that no actual “breeding” goes on.)

In short, they come into this with the wrath of Gaia behind them. And the absurd idea that what we think is “reality” will somehow restrain them, or that they had better moderate their actions or lose power back, in my opinion ignores the behavior and rhetoris of these people for the last 8 years. Have Pelosi and Reid governed to the center for fear of losing Congress? Actually, in their view, they probably have so they could win the White House. But now that they have it, they will wreak unprecedented destruction upon the land.

They will start with the Fairness Doctrine, multiple criminal prosecutions of Republicans for their political views and other actions to silence dissent. They will solidfy their ACORN-like strategy of institutionalizing voter fraud, so as to not take any chances in the future. Ans they will set about destroying the country they so thoroughly loathe.

Nov 4, 2008 - 1:45 pm 12. David Thomson:

“…polling being wildly inaccurate in recent years all point to a surprise McCain win.”

There are reports claiming that pollsters employed by the GOP predict John McCain and Sarah Palin winning in New Jersey and other presumably blue states. Oh well, we will probably know the truth within the next six hours.

Nov 4, 2008 - 1:46 pm 13. Eric R.:

Obama will govern somewhere to the left of European Socialist parties, and to the right of Stalin and Mao.

But closer to the latter.

Nov 4, 2008 - 2:02 pm 14. Barry Dauphin:

If we have an overwhelming Democratic majority in Congress, the committee chairs will try to do what they’ve all dreamt of doing. Chuck Schumer is virtually delerious at the prospect of unfettered governing. What would Chuck do? That is the answer to your question, Roger.

Strangely, it would take a true act of courage for Obama to tame Congress. Will he? What if he gets his regular fill of national security briefings and decides that Bush wasn’t so evil afer all? But I think it will be tax and spend–Warren Beatty will be happy. Many government jobs will be created and the average level of efficiency per worker will decline. The chickens come home to roost later.

Nov 4, 2008 - 2:25 pm 15. ricpic:

Criminalizing political opposition is key. The goal will be the establishment of a dictatorship. How successful Barak & Co. are in criminalizing political opposition and political speech in the first hundred days will determine how effectively he will rule as a tyrant.

Nov 4, 2008 - 4:45 pm 16. Glenn:

And if you’re in France what difference will it make?

Nov 4, 2008 - 5:14 pm 17. wpb:

A bigger question is how will we know if Obama is really moving in a centrist direction? Certainly not from the MSM. They’ll spin his income redistribution plan as a perfectly reasonably response to inequality (oops – they already did that). If he stumbles on foreign policy, the MSM will tell us it’s just part of a well choreographed dance we don’t understand. Biden even warned us we wouldn’t understand it.

The onus will be on ML, VDH, and other PJMers, to keep the record straight, ask hard questions, and apply critical thinking when examining the actions of a future President Obama and Congress – regardless of whether or not a Fairness Doctrine is reenacted. If the nightmare ricpic envisions comes true, we’re all screwed.

Nov 4, 2008 - 5:20 pm 18. cathy:

What we do know is that he’ll limit energy, drive up electricity costs, put through card check to screw lots of industry, raise taxes and social security payments, tax inheritance, and allow sub-prime loans. I think he’ll try to do national health care, but something has to work in the states first so there’s not an example. I think he’ll try to nationalize oil and gas production. But he’ll end up in a lot of stupid wars because of his weakness and that’ll take up his time. He’ll help Kenya go under sharia law and that will make other African countries flare up and Qaddafi will become a major force in Africa. He’ll help Chavez in Venezuela and undermine Colombia. But his big thing will be to fund groups like Acorn and other activist groups who will gain strength that will be hard to break.

Nov 4, 2008 - 6:45 pm 19. John:

Assuming Obama’s going to govern to his left at least in 2009-10 isn’t a big stretch. But the question will be how will the Blue Dog Democrats back him up? They’re the ones who have been elected over the past couple of years, mainly in red or purple states, and in some cases by running to the right of their Republican opponent.

They could break with the the party’s leadership the past two years because Pelosi and Reid knew Bush was going to veto the most liberal legislation. But with Obama in charge, they may be needed on some close votes, and it was votes like the 1993 Clinton tax increase that enraged voters and got many Blue Dogs of that time ousted in ‘94.

That doesn’t mean an Obama Administration and a Democratic Congress can’t pass a lot of crappy laws in the next two years, but actions have consequences, and you can only run on hope, change and making people feel good about electing the first minority president for so long if they don’t see results (see New York in 1989 and 1993 and the Giuliani-Dinkins mayoral races for proof that even in a liberal stronghold, enough people will change their vote if things aren’t going good with Democrats totally in charge).

Nov 4, 2008 - 7:04 pm 20. WPZ:

Obama’s a statist- and he actually believes that he’s the right state.
The savagery of his politicking to date won’t abate. Takedowns will mingle with witch hunts- Waxman’s got to salivating- and given the adolescent nature of his posturing so far- remembering he’s actually done nothing, ever- we can look forward to an imperious finger-wagger letting us know how dumb we are.
Besides, Rich Daley sent him, and to say politics ain’t beanbag here in northeastern Illinois is to make an understatement of epic proportions.
Hope you liked listening to talk radio, owning those guns, being able to make your own decisions about your health care, and keeping a bit of that money you used to make.

Nov 4, 2008 - 7:28 pm 21. Lightnin' Hopkins:

Time for that drink….

Nov 4, 2008 - 8:01 pm 22. Barry Dauphin:

One important thing to remember about Obama– He collected so much money in the campaign (and let’s face it, this campaign is really the only thing he’s ever really done), that he could do anything he wanted. He has no idea how to spend limited resources. he has no idea how set set budget priorities. During this campaign, he could simply throw money at every problem. That is how he will try to govern at first.

Nov 4, 2008 - 8:48 pm 23. Promoguy:

Hey John, are there anymore blue dog dems left. I wonder

Nov 4, 2008 - 9:21 pm 24. Mark Razak:

We must remember that America does not exist in a vacuum. Tonight the foreign forces who do not wish America well are rejoicing. They will view the election of BHO not as a demonstration of democracy but as evidence that America’s elites are divided, drained of self-confidence and weak to the point of self-loathing. They will wonder if our new POTUS-elect really does loathe his own country. In the short term, our enemies will be conciliatory and quietly they will build and prepare. Then one day (I figure about 2 years) they will strike and our world will be radically changed forever. The wrath that will befall the Dems will be 9 fold of what they did to poor GWB.

Nov 4, 2008 - 10:47 pm 25. John:

Promoguy:

Yeah, they’re around in the congressional districts that turned from Red to Blue over the past four years — the voters in those districts just suddenly didn’t decide to elect people with the political ideology of Barney Frank; the ones elected have kept their heads low on the really controversial issues, and haven’t had to worry about being in major trouble because the party leaders didn’t hold them to a party-line vote on bills Bush would veto.

All that changes on Jan. 20, and the problem for them, and possibly even for Obama, is that while they might want to move towards the center to maintain their re-election viability, there is a ton on pent-up anger on the left that’s not going to tolerate Congressional heretics within their own party any better than they tolerated Joe Lieberman. And the problem then is that the buzzwords “hope” and “change” only work with a new product — once you’ve got a Democratic president with a Democratic congress, if things go wrong all the media spin in the world (or all the race cards in the deck, if it comes to that) won’t to get voters to blame George W. Bush, John Bohnier, Mitch McConnell or any other current or former Republican come 2010 or 2012.

Nov 4, 2008 - 10:59 pm 26. view from afar:

In the current economic crisis, Glenn, it matters ALOT what happens in the US when you live in France

Nov 5, 2008 - 12:44 am 27. Mike G in Corvallis:

Roger, remember the catechism from your radical days: “Things have to get worse before they can get better.”

Obama’s policies will make things worse … and the decline will be spun by the administration and the media as proof that we just aren’t doing enough.

Nov 5, 2008 - 1:16 am 28. AlanC:

This will be Jimmuh II only worse.

There will be major problems overseas including to one degree or other:
1) Russian recapture of “lost” republics. They’ve already moved on Georgia again made noises about the Ukraine and announced increases in missles
2) Iranian surrogates attacking Israel. Hezbollah has already announced that Israel has to be constricted back to imaginary 1920 borders annexing much of North Israel to Lebanon.
3) Iranian stooges taking over Iraq. We’ll see
4) China making some sort of strong move on Taiwan. We’ll see
5) Venezuela making a move on Columbia. Can you say FARC boys and girls?

Economically we will see:
1) massive inflation due to soaring energy costs. Let’s bankrupt 49% of our energy producers (aka coal) what will that do to the price of food or any other commodity? Oh, yeah and the tax increases on business.
2) large tax increases. Already planned. I figure the “rich” will be defined down to about $75,000 by the time they’re done. Richardson has already got it down to $120k.
3) high interest rates. they have to go up given 1, 2 & 3. Ought to be real good for the construction industry just like it was last time.
4) high unemployment. As business fold due to 1 & 2 & 3; been there, done that circa 1978.
5) large restrictions on free trade will echo Smoot-Hawley. Re-write NAFTA is only the start. Hurting free trade will just exacerbate an already dicey global economy.
6) Massive federal deficit increases as more money is poured into the UN programs (Kyoto style scams and massive transfers from “rich” countries (AKA USA) to Africa) and welfare schemes (that gas has to be paid for), healthcare etc. I’m assuming they will live up to their promises.

Rights will be curtailed:

1) Free speech will be attacked via a new “fairness” doctrine that will also be expanded to include the Net and Cable venues, I expect the first part withing 3 months. Again, they’ve said they will do this …..
2) mass expansions of gun control beyond the re-imposition of Clinton “assault” rifle bans (see the Chicago & DC rules)……….and this….
3) ultra-liberal judges will invent more “positive” rights……..and this

And this doesn’t even include my extreme possibilities because I think the odds of them are too low to make the list though I wouldn’t be terribly surprised.

Nov 5, 2008 - 7:55 am 29. hermie:

The only thing that we can hope for, is that Obama proves to be as poor a leader as he has proven in the past.

He has never been the leader on anything, except for the Harvard Law Review, which he was a compromise candidate rather than chosen because of his leadership abilities or his scholarship. His Annenburg Challenge ‘leadership’ wasted $150 million and produced no improvement in the poorly-run Chicago schools.

He has never been a leader in the Illinois Senate or in the US Senate. He has been someone who was content to be included as one of the group; but not taking any real responsibility, or accepting any real consequences for his actions.

I see him in this same role as POTUS: Allowing Reid and Pelosi to create massive and damaging legislation, while sitting back and looking ‘concerned’. Maybe he’ll even find time to write a letter, vaguely mentioning his ‘concern’ about one or two aspects. In a pinch if you need him, you can always give him a call.

His Cabinet will receive the blame for any errors, disasters and incompetence that occur. There are plenty of minions who will be willing to fall on their swords for the One; and most likely, receive a nice ‘consultant’ position, or an ‘analyst’ spot on MSNBC/NBC/CNBC/M.O.U.S.E.

Nov 5, 2008 - 11:11 am 30. Tioedong:

As a doc living overseas, I will predict in my areas of expertise.

He will:

Remove protection from doctors, nurses and pharmacists who won’t cooperate with giving out abortion pills. (and later, euthanasia pills). Muslim docs and Catholic nurses will be affected the most.

Promote abortion overseas. If you want US aid you will have to allow “reproductive rights” this means legalized abortion in places like the Philippines where it is illegal.

Appoint judges who will legalize gay marriage and euthanasia, despite voter’s wishes to the contrary. Courts have already approved laws that mandate Catholic hospitals give out abortion pills; the next step is mandating they do abortions, sterilizations, and “withdrawal of care” to the handicapped and euthanasia to those who request it.

Promote a one payer system for medicine; eventually government will take over the medical system. If you loved Walter Reed AMC (and have ever worked in Federal Indian hospitals before the tribes took them over) you will see the result: Shabby hospitals, medical rationing under the name of budgetary restraints.

Empower Iran…read Strategypage on this.

Disempower democracy in “non PC” countries. Iraq will be the first, but watch as he stops aid to fight terrorism in Colombia (where I have family) and in the Philippines (Where I live) under the guise that the Army sometimes kills people on the side and the government takes bribes. The fact that the governments are as corrupt as the next guy, and that the bad guys kill a lot innocent people will be ignored.

Oh yes: He will take credit for Bush’s program that has saved the lives of 1.3 million Africans, while cutting back the budget.

Nov 5, 2008 - 3:09 pm 31. John Galt:

Obama will not govern. His aides will run the show (along with the Congress) while he runs for reelection. Does anyone here seriously believe he has the emotional temperament and intellectual ability to make important decisions?

He is simply a vessel into which Dems, life’s losers, and the mushy headed youth have poured their wants and needs. Obama has never been nor will he ever be his own man. If the presidencey changes him for the better, I will congratulate him. However, IF he ever becomes a true leader/executive, then watch out! He is a Marxist at heart.

Nov 7, 2008 - 9:40 am

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