If Obama Wins

With a spate of recent Supreme Court decisions, everyone on the right side of the political spectrum has to ask themselves, what is really at stake in this year's Presidential election. Nothing can change the nature of this country as much as an activist, leftist Court. The last two elections have seen George W. Bush get my vote largely because of the Court. In 2004, I added the War on Terrorism (or the War against Islamofascism) to my list. Those two reasons and the fact that I believe he is tremendously thoughtful and honorable man are why I will vote for McCain this year, despite his heresy on Campaign Finance Reform, Global Warming, and Immigration.

But, what happens if Obama wins in November, and brings with him at least two years of Democrats controlling Congress (and, perhaps a 60-seat majority in the Senate)?

Doomsday scenarios say he would put us on a fast track to withdraw from Iraq (ensuring defeat), would damage the economy with tax increases (removing the social security cap, increasing capital gains, restoring the death tax to Clinton levels, and raising marginal rates on the highest wage earners), would do little to reduce our dependence on middle-eastern oil (putting us on a path to $10/gal gas while enriching those Arab sheiks who bankroll our enemies and costing us billions in non-productive global warming prevention measures), would likely put the death knell on school choice initiatives, would take control of the health care industry and ensure rationing, and would appoint leftist judges to the Federal bench and Supreme Court, ensuring a further erosion in individual rights for a generation.

But, would all those things really happen?

Some might have made the same arguments when Bill Clinton was the nominee.

Of course, Bill Clinton, after the health care fiasco, realized that he needed to govern more moderately in order to 1)get anything done, and 2)(more importantly to him) get re-elected.

Crucial to #1 was the fact that he didn't have 60 Dem Senators to prevent filibusters. Assuming Obama also doesn't have this, will he, like Clinton, move right to ensure that#2 also happens to him? Reading the tea leaves, do Obama's recent statements in the wake of a couple of Supreme Court decisions give us any indication that he intends to not just govern more centristly, but to campaign that way?

I don't know.

I have to hope that 1) McCain wins, or that 2)If Obama wins that the R's retain 41+ seats in the Senate, or that 3)Obama is not as left-wing as his record indicates.

If 2 or 3 aren't true, we all have to come up with some contingency plans, which will be the subject of another post...