presidential transition

Israel’s commitment of ground troops in Gaza brings the crisis to a new and surely more dangerous level. Its rejection of calls for a ceasefire and Hamas’s resistance to halting rocket attacks into southern Israel mean Barack Obama will already have a major foreign policy crisis on his hands by the time he assumes office. Add to this the stimulus package and the bipartisan support Obama needs to deal with the deepening economic recession, and it is clear the new president will face the most difficult start since FDR took the oath of office in 1932.

How else can you describe it? Thanks to Maclean’s for giving me the opportunity to share with readers in the blogosphere my impressions about the US presidential race from the perspective of a challenger who was 22 percent behind in the national polls at this stage last year. Thanks, too, to the readers and responders along the way. Many disagreed with me but were not disagreeable. While it may not always show, the more conservative, pro-Republican responders made me think and I am grateful. I still believe conservatism is a vital and essential part of American political thought. Just like liberalism needed to rethink its basic tenets from the 70’s on, I believe 2008 is the beginning of the next conservative revolution. This is just the way America works—checks and balances on its institutions and, more importantly, on its political thinking.

Ever since Barack Obama’s election, a lot of attention has been directed at the presidential transition, during which the president-elect has treated us to a blend of cool temperament and daring nominations. Over 75 per cent of the electorate approve of Obama’s handling of the transition. But while the transition is one of the best in recent memory, elsewhere, problems are emerging: economic conditions are worsening as Congress cannot agree on a stimulus package for the US auto industry; the US economy has been in recession for nearly a year and job losses are mounting on a monthly basis; and a political scandal involving the Illinois governor and Obama’s former Senate seat has erupted, providing a temporary distraction from the problems at hand.