Barack Hussein Obama - Part 2

The Obama administration can be seen as the culmination of Woodrow Wilson's plan to change the President from chief magistrate of the government to the "visionary leader" that moves America to a new and different place according to his ambitious "vision". Obama has concealed his deep radicalism in the campaign, and has continued to obscure his socialist goals since taking office, but it has become clear from tell-tale signs in his background that he is ambitious to being the agent of liberal reform in modern times. Wilson and the Progressives represented the first attempt at liberal reform; FDR and the New Deal was next in liberal reform; and LBJ's Great Society was the third step in advancing liberal reform. Each of these steps led to large increases in the size and reach of the federal government, with more spending, regulations, and higher taxes. They also created electoral realignments in favor of Democrats. Obama hoped to achieve another realignment that would give Democrats a long lasting and durable majority in Congress. The 2008 election delivered large Democratic majorities, representing a possible realignment similar to the 1932 election, however, the 2010 midterm election showed that the American people do not support Obama's agenda.
Each past "wave" of liberal reform also entailed a weakening of the Constitution, and the Obama agenda is no exception. Only the checks and balances of the separation of powers between the branches (a feature of the Constitution that Woodrow Wilson hated the most because it constrained visionary Presidents like himself and certainly Obama) have kept Obama from implementing more of his radical agenda. Still, he has made great strides in forcing the nation to the left. Embracing the slogan of his first Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, that we should "never let a good crisis go to waste", Obama used the banking crisis of 2008 to enact a nearly $1 trillion "stimulus bill" on the basis of the discredited Keynesian theory that government can heal the economy simply by spending borrowed money. And, of course we know that the "stimulus bill" failed, prolonging the recession and pushing the nation into unprecedented and truly threatening new debt. Obama promised that the "stimulus bill", by spending money for "shovel ready" projects around the country, would limit unemployment to 8%. But unemployment soared to over 10% and has remained high. Obama later admitted that there weren't many "shovel ready" projects. Much of the money went to reward favored Democratic Party constituency groups and to expand the left's favorite government programs, such as the Energy Department's loan guarantee program for "green energy" that resulted in the Solyndra calamity and other corrupt dealings as well as a multitude of failed "green energy" companies.
But to only look at the economic results of the stimulus is to miss the "big picture". The "stimulus bill" was political, rather than economic. By adding almost $1 trillion of new spending in one shot, increased the "baseline" for federal spending for all government programs. The stimulus was a chance to increase the size of the federal government PERMANENTLY. A few of the programs will shrink a bit with the formal end of the stimulus period, but overall, the size of government and most spending programs will be much higher than before Obama took office. Prior to Obama, federal spending averaged around 20% of GDP; the "stimulus bill" bumped the federal government's spending to a new plateau of around 25% of GDP, and Obama's health care plan will increase that level further.
By the way - During his campaign, Obama promised that he would deliver a Net Spending Cut. He knew that he was lying to us...
By deliberately creating a huge federal deficit, Obama has created massive political pressure for tax increases. Permanently higher taxes are the necessary condition for a larger government, as new programs require a larger share of taxpayer's income and wealth.
Obama made it very clear during the 2008 campaign that redistributive egalitarianism is his core principle - both in his answer to a question from ABC News's Charlie Gibson in a primary debate, and in his answer to "Joe the Plumber" during the fall campaign. When Gibson pointed out that cuts in the capital gains tax usually raised revenue, and asked Obama why he would want a tax increase that might depress revenue, Obama replied, "Well Charlie, what I've said is that I raise the capital gains tax for purposes of fairness". Fairness is, of course, the liberal code word for redistribution and punitive taxation of the successful, regardless of its negative economic effects. Even more revealing was Obama's off the cuff answer on the October 2008 campaign trail when"Joe the Plumber' Wurzelbacher challenged Obama about his plans to tax the rich. Obama replied that, "I think that when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody". As his Presidency has proceeded, it has become clear that he prefers redistribution over economic growth.

Part 3 will discuss Obama's radicalism