The beginning of a new year is a good time to be a bit more optimistic. There are a lot of big changes coming to Washington in the near future, and these next few weeks should give us some idea of where our government is heading in the next two years.
The new Republican House is slashing budgets and threatening to repeal the healthcare law. Democrats are switching to defense across the board and Obama's already thinking about 2012. Rome is burning, and this might be the only time I can muster up enough enthusiasm to believe our government might actually put out a few fires.
Let's start with America's most beloved group of individuals: Congress. The new Republican-dominated House will welcome the country's shift to the right and start to work on repealing healthcare reform while fulfilling promises to slash the government's budget by $100 billion.
The twisted good news about the healthcare repeal for the Democrats is that it's a bloodbath in the middle of a time when the American people will favor compromise. The country was ready to rid itself of the healthcare debate when it died down last year, and under the current political environment they are not ready to launch back into a gladiatorial arena of political carnage.
There's also good news about the Republican's promise to slash the budget. Is there $100 billion that could be cut from the constipated machine that is our federal budget? Yes. Unfortunately, there is the obvious follow up question: Are these cuts in areas that Republicans are willing to slash? Probably not.
Cuts in military expenses, which make up 54 percent of our federal budget according to the Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2009 on whitehouse.gov, are simply off the table to the vast majority of Republicans and even a healthy chunk of Democrats. The fight over these cuts will be brutal. Successful interaction between these two parties is crucial in order to solve the country's top economic priorities.
But the Democrats have their fair share of new problems as well. They will most likely switch to a defensive strategy on almost every issue. This usually means nothing gets done or they start to make sacrifices, but I think there may be an interesting opportunity here. Now that President Obama will slow down his attack in the legislative arena, he'll likely take more executive action. If the President can focus on work with major agencies, he can tackle issues like the environment and energy. Often ignored problems like these could be perfect opportunities for Democrats to recover voters from the 2010 elections.
Finally, President Obama will have the joyful task of trying to balance his current duties while preparing to run for office in 2012. The end of the year was a pleasant surprise with a few expected compromises. Over the last two years a large section of President Obama's base had trouble keeping faith in their ""hope and change,"" but how the President handled a lame duck Congress was impressive. Ratifying Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell and passing the 9/11 responders bill were all victories. Even the annoying extension of the Bush Tax cuts has a possibility of stimulating the economy.
As hard as the last two years have been on Obama, the years proceeding could be even trickier. When considering the changes in President Obama's priorities and staff, critics in the media claim that no president can balance Obama's election with his current duties. Many big names on President Obama's staff are leaving the White House to work on his 2012 campaign, but I'm not worried about this typical reshuffling. I believe the power shift in Congress will be the true game changer of Obama's actual policy.
It's hard during anytime of the year to find optimism at any level of government. It's even worse when 2011 started off with the ugly and depressing violence in Arizona.
Nonetheless, when I see how our country comes together after a tragedy like that, it becomes easier for me to look past all of our imperfections and respect the idea that we live in a country that actually aspires to be something better.
Mike Kujak is a sophomore with an undeclared major. Please send all feedback to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
