Buyer's Remorse in 3,2,1...

Well, that didn't take long. Lowlights of President-elect Obama's first 3 days as heir to the White House:

1. The suggestion from Obama/his potential Chief of Staff that perhaps enforced slavery of high-schoolers or 18-25 year olds isn't such a bad idea. (i.e. the creation of a universal voluntary service for young people. If it's "universal", how can it be "voluntary? It would sure be ironic if first black president is the one who brings back slavery).
2. Taking money from profitable industries and giving it to unprofitable ones. (i.e. more, more and more money going to bailout the Big 3 car companies).
3. Discovering that the 5 million "green collar jobs" spouted during the campaign is "just meant to inspire people", and not a "real estimate". (And it continues to be annoying that need for lots of jobs (in other words, inefficiency) to transition to a greener economy is treated as a feature, not a bug, of such plans).
4. Apparent consideration of a Hugo Chavez-loving, scientfically-ignorant NIMBY hypocrite to head the EPA (i.e. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who refuses to believe evidence denying a link between vaccines and autism, and fought to keep wind power generators from an off-shore site near Cape Cod, where they would be in view of the Kennedy compound).

Sure, I'm kind of excited, too, but let's start being realistic. The expectations that people are putting on an Obama presidency are dancing along the fine line between comical and insane. How are these people going to feel when the most they get out of the deal is a $500 child tax credit and military actions in Pakistan? People are so optimistic that they seem to feel that within weeks of Jan. 20, 2009, their budget problems will be solved, the nation's economy will be back on track, gas prices will be down, home prices up, and everyone will have a new puppy. (He promised us one in his speech, didn't he?!)

And finishing the weeek with some wise words from Roderick Long: "it’s great to see a black person at last in the nation’s highest-profile and most influential job – I just wish the nation’s highest-profile and most influential job weren’t the goddamn presidency".