The Economist: Now what? Barack Obama needs to use a bruising victory to unleash the promise of his

[shellgame26]

presidency
LAST November Henry Kissinger compared Barack Obama to a chess grandmaster who had played his opening in six simultaneous matches, but hadn’t completed a single game. Now the president has won the first of those matches with an audacious checkmate snatched from a seemingly hopeless position. But the rest of the chessboards are still gridlocked.

The health-care victory this week was a huge achievement for Mr Obama (see article). After the Democrats in January suddenly lost their filibuster-proof majority in the Senate many, reputedly including his own chief of staff, urged him to play for a draw and settle for a much more modest bill than the 2,400-page behemoth that he signed into law on March 23rd. Instead, the president buckled down: he dumped the (more expensive) House version of the bill, concentrated on the Senate version and criss-crossed the country, making powerful speeches and twisting arms. In short, he took charge, and started doing all the things he ought to have been doing a lot earlier.

His reward, however, is merely the right to continue playing. Had health reform failed after Mr Obama had invested so much of his personal authority in it, his presidency would have been crippled; and a president who is weak at home tends to be perceived as weak abroad as well. Success thus gives Mr Obama a chance to get his presidency back on track, but hardly guarantees it. That depends on him learning from his mistakes and not exaggerating the extent of his success.
more...
http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_id=15770733

[Submariner]

1. New Deal like WPA type project: Infrastructure repair around the country

to fix the roads, bridges, water & wastewater systems, communication and power grids. Employment now!

[The Genealogist]

4. This is what I would like to see!

Something that not only puts people back to work, but that also helps shore up crumbling infrastructure and provide new facilities as needed. Of course, if the RWers ever thought that health care was "socialist," how much more will they lambaste a new incarnation of the WPA and/or its sister organizations?

[aquart]

2. First, take all that excess money away from Wall Street.

I know when people are insufficiently taxed.

[northzax]

3. It's not a coincidence

That the reported nuclear weapons control deal with Russia happened a week after the Affordable Care Act was brought back from the dead. Obama is playing from a serious position of strength right now (among other things, his most ardent opponents are humiliated and acting like it) and more moderate opponents are going to start thinking like they did about Bill Clinton after impeachment, do you want to bet against Obama right now? He just did the impossible, want to bet he can't do it again? So let's go: green infrastructure, a progressive carbon tax and trade system, big wall street reform. Two of the three.

And Mr. president? No one really cares about the deficit, as long as money is being spent on them. Invest in America, and it will pay for itself. So let's go: sone suggestions: high speed rail for LA/SF/LV; Houston-Dallas-Austin; Miami-Orlando-Jacksonville; Build these little triangles that will start to be connected over time. Any cities within 250 miles of each other should be connected by rail in less than 90 minutes by 2025.

Second: the US should be the leader in energy efficiency and generation technology by 2030. Spend what China's spending, with a zero on the end. Ask every governor to cone up with a list of ten schools that need to be brought to code, and write them a check. Now. Get the shovels moving this summer, that's straight up jobs. Make senators vote against spending in their own states. Again. And again.

Third: tell Bibi and Vladimir and Beijing that they are now dealing with your secretary of state until they can play nice.

Fourth: do something, or be percieved to do something, about Wall Street. What? I don't know. But I'm open to suggestions. This is out of my area of expertise.

The window is open, start shoveling stuff through it. Make the party of no remain that. Andale.

[BagongBansa]

5. about that war

I like your style northzax...keep it coming! But I'm wondering how the U.S. can do a huge infrastructure spending and conduct an expensive war at the same time. If we can disengage from Afghanistan some time soon, all the other stuff looks more realistic. Using WWII as an example, the huge infrastructure buildup in highways, etc., took place well after that. True, there's no reason Wall Street reform can't start now.