Obama’s Biggest Challenge…Who He is Going To Listen To

In the aftermath of President-elect Barack Obama's election win, the euphoria has quickly moved into all kinds of speculations over who will be in his inner circle, which he will choose to be at the helms of many crucial government posts. While we know the new President will have a daunting task finding solutions to the significant crisis of the economy, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and potential boiling over of Middle East conflicts...my greatest fear is how he will handle some of the extreme Liberals in his own party who currently lead Congress. Specifically, I hope he can control/bridle Nancy Pelosi, George Miller and Charley Rangel. Let's look at each of these individuals as examples of Democratic Liberals to understand why we should be concerned.

Nancy Pelosi...as speaker of the House of Representative, is next in line after the Vice President of the USA to ascend the Presidency should the President and Vice President be incapacitated. This makes her the most power politician outside of the executive office. She also is the first woman in history to attain that position. While her power and advancements are commendable in that modern day America now allows minorities from women to blacks to rise to these levels of power and responsibility without the historical bigotry and prejudice that previously precluded them, I still have to wonder why and how THIS woman rose to this level over many other potential leaders. She is from one of the most extreme liberal districts in the country in the San Francisco area. She first attained office by being named by the dying representative in 1987. She then narrowly won her first election in a runoff...and has now been in office over 22 years...my definition of a lifelong politician.

My observations of Pelosi are that she is ultra liberal and for those 22 years has voted WITH her party 98.3% of the time...which to me points to a total lack of individuality or centrist capability. Everything I have read or seen on the news shows her as the most partisan Speaker of the House in my lifetime. While the media and pundits have been heaping all the blame of our country's economic woes and deficits on President Bush and the executive office, in reality it is CONGRESS that controls the purse strings of our federal government. How is it that they can duck a considerable amount of the blame for federal deficits, debt and lack of oversight on government bureaucracies? In my mind they are no less guilty than Bush and his cronies on economic issues. All I saw them do during the recent panic of Wall Street was show up as "Democrats United" with their "deer in the headlights" image, and fingers pointing at the Republicans on this matter. They then simply proposed the infamous $700 BILLION bailout of Wall Street with your and my tax dollars. How will Obama deal with this issue?

George Miller...is like Pelosi's twin brother, also from California. He is another long term representative since 1975 from that same region. He is hard core LEFT of left! He is labors biggest "pro-union" congressman which to me equates him with going socialistic with USA industry in a day and age when we are losing competitively to much of the rest of the globe in labor and business. My fear is that in teaming up with Pelosi and others, they will think with Obama in the White House that they have an open mandate for taking the liberal pendulum to another dimension Left than we already are. That would do nothing for my personal beliefs in smaller, constitutional based government along with a requirement for a balanced federal budget. It also in my opinion would further destroy the US business economy in the long run.

Charlie Rangel...is the other lifelong politician in the culprit category. While he has been one of the minority leaders in the federal government to push for equality and diversity in America, he also is one of the most liberal of the Democrats. In addition, he is now chairman of the House and Ways and Means Committee, which means he presides over approvals of the federal government budgets. If you want to watch what our government does with your tax dollars, this is the committee...and chairman...you want to watch over. His committee can thumbs up or down most any federal government program or incentive. Problem is, he has recently been under a lot of pressure over profiting from subsidized rent programs in New York on properties he shouldn't have anything to do with. While he had the power to get those charges put to rest apparently, I have never liked the guy’s politics or his personal ethics. Why we have a guy going on his 80s in this powerful position in our government is a very interesting question. He is in a position to be a big pain if Obama and other government leaders want to go centrist or moderate in their approach to our nation’s problems. He strikes me as the dealmaker who is always going to be asking “what’s in this for me?”

It’s going to be very interesting after January 20th how much we see these three Democratic leaders interacting with President Obama. I hope for all our sakes that Obama will be able to reason and bring these people some balance in their thinking...and pursue the non-partisan politics he has advocated. Problem is...if he does that...I think he is going to have a battle with these three Democratic leaders in congress. Let's wait and see.