By Glen Meakem
Published in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review
July 19, 2009

Today, America faces serious challenges that President Obama and Democratic Party leaders should address.  Unfortunately, they are pursuing a long agenda that ignores or compounds many of these problems and could result in America suffering an extended period of economic decline and increased international danger.

Let’s look at the facts.

First, we are currently enduring our worst recession in over 25 years.  The unemployment rate is 9.5% and climbing leaving 15 million Americans out of work.  Family budgets are squeezed; corporate profits and the value of retirement accounts have fallen.  With declining tax revenues, government deficits are soaring.

Both Iran and North Korea are threatening the U.S. and its allies.  The Islamic dictatorship continues to call for the destruction of Israel, and it recently crushed democracy protests.  The dictatorial regime in North Korea kidnapped and imprisoned two American journalists, tested a nuclear weapon and many missiles, and launched a major cyber attack on the U.S.  Both regimes export weapons to terrorist nations or organizations and could soon develop functioning nuclear weapons and the missiles to deliver them.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continue.  In the wake of President Bush’s successful “surge,” American combat troops withdrew from Iraqi cities in June.  However, insurgent bombings have increased so more work remains.  The high stakes war against the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan is undecided.

Beyond these immediate threats, America faces critical long range problems.

Medicaid and Medicare, the two largest government health insurance programs, are struggling under their own weight.  American workers pay for these programs directly through payroll taxes and indirectly through high fees for medical services and insurance which subsidize low government reimbursements.  Medical professionals complain that high costs are driven by the irresponsible behavior of many who do not pay for their own health care.  The unfunded future costs of these programs add up to tens of trillions of dollars.

Educational attainment is critical to the long-term success of our country, and is particularly important to the economic advancement of poorer Americans.  Yet, many public schools are notoriously bad.  Less than 50% of children who attend America’s urban public schools graduate from high school.  In addition, American children in general are continuing to underperform versus kids around the world.  In 2006, American kids ranked 21^st in science and 25^th in math compared to kids in 30 developed nations.

Instead of seeking to solve these problems, Barack Obama and the Democratic leadership are focused on growing government, increasing union power, and befriending hostile nations.

They have:

1. Passed a $787 billion “stimulus plan” that ended the bi-partisan welfare reform of the 1990s, doled out 9,000 earmarks, and bailed out failing businesses and state governments.
2. Increased the annual federal budget deficit to $2 trillion.
3. Nationalized domestic auto companies.
4. Nationalized financial institutions.
5. Terminated the Washington, DC Opportunity Scholarship Program that enabled inner city kids to attend private schools.
6. Passed Cap and Trade legislation in the House of Representatives that Obama’s EPA Director said will do nothing to reduce global CO2 levels, and according to Obama himself will make electricity rates “necessarily skyrocket.”  Multiple studies estimate the legislation would cost each American family $3,000 per year and destroy 4 million more American jobs.
7. Increased the war effort in Afghanistan while cutting back in Iraq.
8. Watched Iranians cry out for freedom and their Islamic dictatorship commit murder in the streets for two weeks before expressing support for democracy and condemning government violence.
9. Teamed up with Hugo Chavez and the Castro brothers to support a Honduran President who was removed legally from power after illegally defying his country’s Constitution, Congress, and Supreme Court.
10. Traveled to Russia to “reset” relations and launch the negotiation of a new strategic arms reduction agreement that will weaken America’s global nuclear deterrent.

They are:

1. Cutting defense spending, including missile defense.
2. Attempting to force most Americans onto a nationalized health insurance plan similar to Medicare that limits care but preserves the ability of trial lawyers to pursue unrestricted damages in medical malpractice suits.
3. Increasing regulation of the economy, with potential restrictions on commodities trading, anti-trust actions against successful businesses, and new emissions standards, including categorizing carbon dioxide as a pollutant.
4. Attempting to increase unionization by passing “union card check.”

One of the first lessons of successful leadership is not to attempt to do too many things at once.  Obama’s list of major initiatives is just too long and insiders indicate that Washington is in chaos.

More importantly, with the exception of the actions in Iraq and Afghanistan, none of President Obama and the Democrats’ agenda items will solve our critical short or long term problems.  In fact, many of these actions will make our problems worse and lead to increased economic distress and security dangers.

In my next column, I will describe the agenda President Obama should follow if he wants America to improve and his Presidency to be successful.