One battle line drawn

Listening to Barack Obama's speech last night, I knew I was listening to a great orator. The senator from Illinois looks great on TV, is into text messaging, plays basketball, and gives a rock-concert-like show. How can he lose?

Lots of style and some substance. He actually gave a few details last night about his plans for domestic and international issues. Cut taxes on the middle class, establish health care for those that don't have insurance now, new educational programs, etc, etc. He says, to pay for it, he will review the federal budget line by line and cut wasteful spending..Two comments there: First, I hope he has longer than a four year term, as the last budget was almost 2000 pages long. That's a lot of editing. Second, let's hope he is not accepting campaign contributions from anyone he's about to cut funding off from; his war chest may just dry up if the special interests think their pork will be cut. So, that leave what the government has always done: Borrow and increase the national debt (a real good idea for his youth support contingent, as they will be left with the bill in their middle age), or print more money, which will spur inflation and further weaken the dollar overseas. None of this is new. Play his speech next to Bush's in 2000, Clinton's in 1992,...go back as far as you like. Same themes, pretty much the same issues (gay marriage is new, I'll put more on that at a later date) and same proposed solutions.

Folks, It is going to cost us dearly to dig out of this economic morass we are in, and I'm not talking about the housing "slump." As a nation we are drowning in a sea of debt, and we are running out of time to fix it. Fix the national debt and Social Security - which, by the way, are two separate issues. Fixing the debt requires old fashioned grandmotherly horse sense - don't spend more than you make. THAT will be painful. Special interests will have to get used to not feeding at the federal trough, and politicians will have to get used to not feeding them. Social Securrity will be additional pain - especially for me, I reach my sixties 10 years AFTER the trust fund will be depleted. Doing the math, the only way TO fix it is a combination of benefit cuts and tax INCREASES. The sooner we start, the less draconian the numbers for each individual. I'll do my part, if someone with character is elected to office and stands up to the pressure.