So Much For Sticking to Your Guns.....

For those of you on the other side of the aisle that we're hoping for Barack Obama to thumb his nose to his contractors, and push ahead, this is not good news. Less than three days after his State of the Union address, Obama seems to have backed off the idea of trying Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in Lower Manhattan , what every else outside calls Downtown New York City. That, and he - GULP !! - sat down with Republicans to get input for fixing America. We're not sure if he put that brochure he got from John Boehner right into the shredder or not, but at least he took it.....

Now, for the commentary - Good for Him. We said it earlier .... Trying them in NYC was a costly and bad idea. No good would come from this. Why not use the State of the Art Courtroom we spent millions on in Guantanamo Bay for it's intended purpose. Politics is alot like war, and when you are overmatched, you give in , and fight the battles you can win. This was a loser.

Is this a sign that Barack Obama is taking the path of Bill Clinton in 1994, and veering to the right? Probably not, but it's a step in the right direction. I watched the SOTU with three friends up here in Yankeeville on Wednesday. One is a superconservative who is a bit pissed at watching 50% of everything he makes get sucked up in taxes. The second is like me - a slight to the right Republican. The third is a run of the mill New York Jewish Democrat, but he is an entrepreneur that understands where the drink is stirred, and where America really is. His analysis? 'Obama needs to go Right-Center'. Good call.....

There are some points that Obama talked about that will help. The banks do need some regulation to avoid going down the tubes, and to protect consumers from being $39'd to death for being a day late on their credit cards and title loans. Taxing them? Wrong. We talked about that last week. If you missed it, go then you missed probably the best blog post I ever did. They've paid the Treasury back already.... More stimulus? Nope. If $787 Billion didn't do the trick, another $50-100 billion ain't either. This recovery will take time ..... probably years.

And what about Health Care? Hey, Health Care is like the Right to Life - with few exceptions, no one is against it. But, the cost to cover that last 15% is pretty hefty. Even if you just purchased a standard policy for those not covered - including myself - it'll be $60 billion a year. The bigger problem - public sentiment - is where Obama has his problems. The strongholds for Health Care are where most people already have it, and many of them are the 'Cadillac Plans' , so they don't want them messed with. The areas with more uncovered people generally are more opposed to government run programs. They might not have it, but they dont want the government providing it either...

Barack Obama does have one thing going for him - America wants to see him succeed more than any President since Ronald Reagan. Maybe it's his speeches, but the general public just likes him, and he gets viewed differently because of it. He can be a good one if he makes the slight adjustments that the good presidents do. Work the numbers.... Find the common ground... Stop allowing hacks like Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi dictate what is going to happen. You can't have it all, but with a little effort, good things can be achieved.

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