44 - www.change.gov

I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us, that the less we use our power the greater it will be – Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President of the United States 1743-1826

The American economy is in the grips of its worst recession since the great depression of the 1930’s. In November, 533,000 American’s lost their jobs, the worst monthly drop since December 1974. Home foreclosures are at an all time high and the average American has seen their retirement fund slashed, due in no small part to a 37% drop in the value of the stock market in the last 12 months. There is palpable concern for the future of over 3 million jobs that are either directly or indirectly supported by the automobile industry. After 3 decades of gross inefficiency, bad management and abject failure to stay competitive with their Japanese and German counterparts, America’s top three automakers; General Motors, Ford and Daimler Chrysler, have finally been taken to task by politicians. Claiming that their companies will go bankrupt unless they receive an economic bailout from the federal government, the CEO’s of the Big 3 arrived on Capitol Hill looking for a combined early Christmas present totaling $38B. Yes, that’s billion with a B.

In days of old, the Congress might well have huffed and puffed and then written the check, but times are changing in Washington. Reflecting the views of the new President-elect and flexing its legislative muscles in advance of an expanded majority in the House and Senate come January, the Democrat controlled Congress this week offered the Big 3 a bridge loan of $15B, all of it tied to extensive reform and restructuring of their companies. Despite all this malaise however, Americans are excited and energized at the prospect of welcoming in a presidency that is open, accountable and focused on doing the people’s work.

The night of November 4th was a memorable one in our house. Even though Barack Obama had held a consistently steady lead of anything from 5 to 10 percentage points in the polls over John McCain in the weeks leading up the election, I was still nervous that something out of the ordinary would happen to dash our hopes. I need not have worried. In midst of a few celebratory drinks, it became very clear as the polls closed across the country that the Obama-Biden ticket had won a crushing mandate. Although the final percentages looked somewhat close at 52.9%-45.7%, the Obama-Biden ticket won the popular vote by almost 10 million (69,394,675 to 59,892,681), and more than twice the number of electoral-college votes won by McCain-Palin (365-173). At 62.9%, turnout was at its highest since 1964. Not only did Obama win every state that John Kerry won in 2004 but added Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, Ohio and Indiana.

In recent weeks, Barack Obama has said on a number of occasions that there is only one president at a time in America. While factually correct, it is clear that W has already checked out and the president-elect has taken center stage, putting in place his much advertised “team of rivals” cabinet. As I write we are still 44 days away from the inauguration of the 44th President of the United States, however it already feels like we have a new commander in chief in town.

Oh, happy days!

Office of the president-elect transition website: www.change.gov