Analysis of Obama's Nominations

An additional reason that I have not posted as frequently of late is because I have been monitoring Obama's nominations to his incoming administration. Shortly before I launched my blog, I had sent an e-mail to friends in which I observed that Obama would either govern as a radical, and suffer both the policy and political ramifications of his own policies, or compromise and govern as more of a moderate.

His personnel selections thus far, combined with some of his comments, suggest that he is open to following the latter course, for the most part. For example, some of his nominees are in favor of free trade and are opposed to raising taxes during an economic downturn, while the continuation in office of President Bush's Secretary of Defense Robert Gates will assure that there is at least one important voice in the Obama Cabinet to argue against precipitous withdrawal from Iraq. It is no surprise that Obama seems to be following more of a course of continuity than change, as "change" was more of a slogan meant to appeal to emotion than to convey serious policy intentions. Even he had to know that many of Bush's policies were successful and popular, despite the president's low overall public approval ratings. After all, most of Bush's controversial anti-terrorism legislation, for example had been approved by overwhelming bipartisan majorities, including the votes of Obama himself.

Obama will still be able to impose radical policies through executive orders, appointments to the federal judiciary (generally) and the conduct of military and foreign policy, but he will be resisted by at least a vocal minority in Congress on any radical legislative proposals (e.g. elimination of the absentee ballot for union elections, forcing taxpayers to pay for abortions, elimination of missile defense, drivers' licenses for illegal aliens, etc.). However, because few of his radical proposals are popular, he will face public resistance to the implementation of any of his policies. It is, after all, our duty as the loyal opposition to resist bad policies. I assure you that I shall do my part through this blog to do so.