The Voice of Merrill

2009 came and went.  The agenda from the White House remains the same: Cap and Trade, Health Care, Jobs, Economic Recovery, Terrorism, Foreign Relations.  Looking back on what hasn’t been accomplished in the last 12 months would make one wonder where 2009 went?  Hold onto your hats, 2009 set up 2010 to be a helluva lot of fun!

Cap and Trade is dead.  The Dems blew their collective wad on Health Care.  American’s were leery but accepting that the Democrats were going to help save the planet at little or no cost to them.  The voters were still coming off their incredible election rush and the mantra of Hope and Change was fresh in their minds.  They believed that Yes We Can involved Yes We Will and they were ready to cautiously try the Democrats’ plan.  Nan-CY’s Cap and Trade squeaked through the House and is dead in the Senate.  The focus of the second chamber has been wholly on Health Care and the people are no longer blind to the fact that so many programs are going to cost big bucks.

The economy will recover and the unemployment rate will drop.  Whether this is in any way related to Barack Obama’s Very Large Stimulating Package or not is debatable.  What is undeniable is that between TARP and the Stimulating Package, America is in more debt now than she has ever been.  2009 may be remembered as the year that broke the bank when it was supposed to be the year that fixed it. 

Unfortunately, a Democratic Party approved Health Care bill is likely to be signed.  The House and Senate are working on a unilateral reconciliation package to offer up to President Obama.  He will be likely to sign anything that resembles health care that hits his desk.  Hell, last week Malia’s band-aid came off her elbow and he autographed it.  The President is desperate to follow through on any major campaign promise he can.  Expect that any Health Care plan approved will face heavy legal battles.  Most Constitutionalists believe a government mandate fails to appease the requirements of the charter documents of this country.  If a mandate is struck down as unconstitutional, then the whole health care plan will quickly unravel as pre-existing conditions come back into play as criteria for coverage.  It will get very ugly very rapidly. 

Spend spend and spend.  The Democrats are facing increasing unpopularity in the polls.  They have reserved the majority of the Very Stimulating Package for the summer of 2010; after the economy has been declared to be over.  The plan is to show jobs and infrastructure advancements along with heroic rescues of State finances just before the 2010 mid-term elections.  Don’t expect to see much happen in Kansas as it’s already in the bag for the Red candidates, but California, Michigan, New York and swing states will feel a huge influx of cash just in time for the Democratic Reps and Senators to have something to point out.

2010 will show more “progress” than 2009 did.  For the Democrats it has to.  For the Conservatives, 2010 with or without the Democratic “progress” could be a make or break year.

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