By Glen Meakem
Published in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review
August 9, 2009

We face real problems. With unemployment at 9.4 percent, we are in the midst of the worst recession since World War II. Poor government policies could extend this recession or send us back into recession after a brief recovery.

We and key allies face the imminent threat of both Iran and North Korea arming themselves with functional nuclear weapons and the missiles to deliver them. The costs of government-run Medicare and Medicaid are out of control with tens of trillions of dollars of unfunded future liabilities.

And America’s public schools are failing with only 50 percent of children in urban school districts graduating from high school, breeding unemployment, lawlessness and a persistent underclass.

While President Obama and the Democrats pursue policies designed to dramatically expand unionization, muzzle our economy with a huge new carbon tax and expand inefficient, poor-quality government control over health care, our real problems are festering. So what should Obama do?

First, he should take actions that enable the economy — and most critically, private-sector employment — to grow. The needed policies are no mystery.

President Obama should lead Congress in making current individual tax rates on income, dividends and capital gains permanent. This would avoid the massive, job-destroying tax increase already scheduled for January 2011.

Corporate tax rates — now the second highest among the G-20 nations — should be reduced to make American companies more competitive.

The drive for new government regulations should be stopped. New regulations on the economy should be implemented only after careful, bipartisan study.

Government spending should be disciplined, with many elements of the $787 billion “stimulus plan” canceled, and earmarks eliminated. Second, the president should recognize the failure of decades of negotiations with communist North Korea and of decades of economic sanctions against the Islamic dictatorship in Iran. It is not too late to prevent both of these regimes from becoming functioning nuclear weapons states. However, Obama’s first term as president will provide our final opportunity.

As a result, he should prepare strong military options against both regimes and their nuclear programs. America’s preparations will be no secret, dramatically increasing our negotiating leverage over both regimes. This is a case where one way or the other, strength will lead to safety for America and our allies. Weakness and timidity will inevitably lead to uncertainty and great danger.

Third, the cost of government-provided medical care should be brought under control. Most importantly, Obama should do the truly hard thing and cap punitive damage awards from medical malpractice lawsuits.

He and congressional leaders should also enable dramatically more competition between insurers by establishing a single national market for medical insurance.

Additionally, our government needs to encourage individuals to take responsibility for their own health care with actions like raising deductibles for Medicaid recipients. The lack of personal responsibility in health care is one of the chief problems with government-run programs.

Finally, instead of blocking competition in K-12 education, Obama should aggressively support educational choice. As the nation’s first black president, Obama has the moral authority to defy the teachers unions and pursue the single policy that could best promote equality for the 21st century and beyond.

Creating a system of choice and competition in K-12 education could be Obama’s legacy.

Is this a “liberal” agenda? No, it is quite the opposite. But if Barack Obama has the courage and independence to pursue these policies, he could be a great president. If he stays on his current liberal path, then he will end up as a footnote in history and those who follow will have to clean up his mess.