When Does the Campaign Stop and the Governance Begin?

By Red County Contributor Tearesa Trujillo
The president will visit Orange County, California today. One of the most conservative bastions in the nation is in the spotlight as the forty-fourth President of the United States tries to sell his economic stimulus package to the nation.
He is visiting a county where six out of the seven congress members voted against the stimulus. Only Democrat Loretta Sanchez supported additional government bailout and unprecedented spending as a band-aid for the bad economic outlook.
The Orange County Register was reporting on the rock concert vibe of people waiting in line for the coveted town hall tickets at the Orange County Fairgrounds.
This feels more like a campaign swing through California than a serious trip by a president eager to govern. Obama is proud of the fact he is a great campaigner but hasn't really shone as a president.
And that leads me to an important question.
When does the campaign stop and the governance begin?
The president has been in office less than two months. He inherited a much more sober nation than the one he campaigned in. The economic turmoil has only increased as the president, his Treasury Secretary, and his economic advisors have made doom and gloom predictions that have collectively caused the American public to recoil at the notion of spending one dime more than is absolutely necessary in their personal lives.
All of this is going on while the government is on the biggest spending spree in government history. International leaders have decried American spending on both governmental and individual levels. Yet, Obama continues to press ahead with a massive government spending plan to cure the nation's woes.
"There is no disagreement that we need action by our government, a recovery plan that will help to jumpstart the economy," the president reported on January 9, 2009. This was twelve days before he took office. Last week, 200 prominent economists responded to this statement in a signed public letter denouncing the president's stimulus package. The complete list of economist can be found here: http://www.cato.org/special/stimulus09/cato_stimulus.pdf
The Cato Institute advertisement states:
"With all due respect Mr. President, that is not true.
Notwithstanding reports that all economists are now Keynesians and that we all support a big increase in the burden of government, we do not believe that more government spending is a way to improve economic performance. More government spending by Hoover and Roosevelt did not pull the United States economy out of the Great Depression in the 1930s. More government spending did not solve Japan's "lost decade" in the 1990s. As such, it is a triumph of hope over experience to believe that more government spending will help the U.S. today. To improve the economy, policy makers should focus on reforms that remove impediments to work, saving, investment and production. Lower tax rates and a reduction in the burden of government are the best ways of using fiscal policy to boost growth."
The list includes a Nobel laureate and prominent economists from major universities. The signers of the letter actually call the president out on his statement that, "There is no disagreement that we need action by our government, a recovery plan that will help to jumpstart the economy."
In the religion of Obama there is no disagreeing with the messiah's proclamations. But, in an open and free society we can disagree. There seems to be plenty of economists willing to stand up to the rising tide of Obamaisms.
The candidate that promised change is using the economic crisis to remake America with back door deals, massive earmark spending, money laundering to foreign banks and investors through the now government controlled AIG, and other tactics that looks too much like the business as usual Washington D.C.
The promised transparency has been thrown to the wind as Obama has now signed at least five major bills without the promised web posting and five day waiting period. The nearly 1100 page stimulus bill, and major change in how and when employees can file a suit over sexual harassment and/or discrimination, and the largest appropriations bill in history, were all signed without the transparency promised.
We have all had an opportunity to see what change means to Barack Obama. Change means much, much more of business as usual in Washington D.C. Change means saddling the taxpayers with massive debt for generations of Americans. Change means that we all lose when our take home pay buys less and our tax bill goes up.
We need a president who governs, not a president who looks good campaigning long after the election is over.
Get to work Mr. President.