Obama's Reform Agenda: Is He Trying to Do Too Much? TIME Mar 11, 2009 Buffett was — and is — an Obama supporter, but he took to the airwaves on March 9 to try to seize the young President's attention away from health care and education and energy and refocus it back onto the economy. Warning that Obama's agenda has become too sprawling and provocative, Buffett admonished, "Job 1 is to win the war, the economic war. Job 2 is to win the economic war — and Job 3." He added, "You can't expect people to unite behind you if you're trying to jam a whole bunch of things down their throat." The oracle's verdict was quickly endorsed by Jack Welch and Andrew Grove, retired CEOs of General Electric and Intel, respectively. And from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke came this measured nudge: "Until we stabilize the financial system, a sustainable economic recovery will remain out of reach." ........ Obama fired back the same day. "I know there are some who believe we can only handle one challenge at a time," he said, invoking Lincoln's launch of the transcontinental railroad in the midst of the Civil War. "We don't have the luxury of choosing between getting our economy moving now and rebuilding it over the long term." Is the Worm Beginning to Turn? Buffett Throws Obama Under Bus RushLimbaugh.com (subscription) Mar 10, 2009Barack Obama has to walk and chew gum at the same time. That is his challenge. I understand these are tough times and there is only so much you can shove down the throat of the political system. But imagine America saying in World War II, we can make tanks, but no planes, because we got to prioritize. The current global crisis is of a gigantic magnitude, and it asks for a gigantic response. I happen to think the stimulus package is not big enough. Krugman echoes that sentiment, and the dude has a Nobel.
When Obama ran for president, there were people who were saying, he is too young, he can and should wait his turn. And I am like, you are right. If it is about Obama, the dude can wait his turn. 10 years from then he would still be younger than most. So why now? Why the urgency? Guess what, it was not about Obama, it was about America and the world. Obama could have waited, but not America, not the world. The time was now.
So if we are concerned about too much grey hair ending up on Obama's scalp, I say take it easy. Deal with this crisis, leave the big programs for the next president who might have more room for it all in eight years. Like Reagan said, hard work never killed a man, but why take a chance!
Barack Obama can afford to tackle one thing at a time. But the country, the world can not. He has to fight the Civil War, and he has to lay down the train tracks at the same time. He has to walk and chew gum at the same time. And I recommend the same to the old white men. I mean, old wise men.
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