WHAT DID YOU EXPECT?

With the election over, we will have a new President in Jan., and he has already given pause to think. I’m not going to spend the next four years berating him idiotically as many of my friends berated President Bush. Imagine saying, “He’s stupid. Anyone can fly one of those jets with all the gizmos in it.” Anyway, I’m not going to throw hissy fits and sit and glare whenever Obama’s name is mentioned. But I am going to continue to think, to listen to different sources and different points of view and not, as another friend does, check in on The Huffington Post or the Daily Kos for her facts. I wish the new President the best of luck in keeping our country on course. He is, after all, my president too. I’m not offering up any of the deranged, irrational hatred I’ve heard for the last eight years.

But here are some issues that are troublesome:

1. After making a statement that “there can only be one president,” Barak Obama found a way not to weigh in on some matters but then threateningly posed that if Congress doesn’t act “in this lame duck session” on another stimulus package, he will immediately after the inauguration. Additionally he will now offer HIS OWN weekly address via radio and internet until the inauguration. One president? I thought that was George W. Bush.

2. At his first news conference, no reporter from FOX or any of the papers that endorsed John McCain were called upon for a question. Is this more of the vindictive behavior that had reporters thrown off his campaign plane in favor of reporters from Essence? I will keep a close eye on the “Fairness Doctrine” debates.

3. How will the auto industry be handled? Pelosi has said that there will be limits on “executive pay,” but it is the backbreaking unions who also must give up something to keep the industry going. Will the Dems challenge the unions that support them? How can the money keep the auto industry afloat if there is no restructuring of management AND if the money offered is earmarked for smaller, more efficient cars in an industry that is not tooled to build them?

4. How will our military be treated? Barney Frank & Co. has already promised a 25% cut in military spending. Do we want our military in the shape it was at the beginning of the Iraq War—under-supplied, and under-protected? I certainly do not!

5. The economic crisis is huge. How could it not be? The Dems tossed aside every economic rule to make sure people who cannot afford homes got them. Then they watched with feigned surprise as those very people could not pay their mortgages and the snowball became an avalanche. I want to keep a close eye on my taxes!

That certainly is enough to keep me busy, but there were many more campaign promises our “country’s savior” made. It will be interesting, and probably very painful to watch. I am thinking of adding another bumper sticker to my car. The first one says, Mark Twain for President “It’s better to be popular than right.” My new one should succinctly read, “What did you expect?”

Obama president election Bush January "Huffington+Post" "Daily+Kos" "lame+duck" FOX McCain Congress Pelosi "Fairness+Doctrine" "auto+industry" bailout military soldiers Democrats "Barney+Frank" budget mortgages taxes "bumper+stickers" "Mark+Twain"