Obama should LBJ things with big moves as fast as possible on his big campaign priorities. I also like the idea of him channelling Reagan in '81 and walking from the Capitol's steps after his inauguration but that may be a little much given the scale and complexity of the legislation at hand. Here's what his initial program might look like:
- Economy/stimulus: tax cuts (estimated at $188bn over 2 years), Detroit restructuring ($25bn for now...), infrastructure package for transportation, public works and general construction (estimated at $150bn over 10 years)
- Healthcare: Expands public insurance by 48.3mn people at an estimated cost of $1.2tn over 10 years.
- Energy/environment: moving towards renewables and energy independence in 10 years, creating 5mn new green collar jobs at an estimated cost of $150bn over 10 years
- DoD re-budgeting: Army, Marines expansion (at least $67bn of additional spending per year)
- Education: the Obama education plan emphasizes funding for No Child Left Behind, an expansion of pre-school care and ensuring college tuition affordability for the middle class at an estimated cost of $18bn per year.
That adds up to roughly $354bn in new spending for FY2009 at a time when tax revenues will be down and debt reaches historic levels.
So, the key questions are: how many of these pieces can he afford in terms of both political capital and actual money? How fast can he move them legislatively? And what, if anything, gets cut back, cancelled or even expanded?
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