A whole string of good posts...

Baddboy is correct. With the election behind us, it is more important now to begin to plan how to ensure that Congress doesn't run wild with a liberal agenda... not Obama.

ALL of us have forgotten what our "Presidential Report Cards" taught us: CICs don't have very much control over an economy the size of the US, and they can't write Laws at will. The Congress is the Law-maker, and as long as the controlling interests there lay with the far-left, I worry. Obama, however, can't do anything that can't be fixed four years later... with a few very real exceptions.

The withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan and Iraq before a stable, democratic and self-sufficient government is established would be catastrophic. The appointment of way-liberal judges to the Supreme Court would have a lasting effect on our nation. Abuse of the veto could deter traditional conservative values in America, too.

We can debate the intentions of the man all day long (and their probably wouldn't be much debate), but it isn't easy for ONE MAN to turn the US into a bastion of socialism... no matter how much he tries. If you doubt me, ask FDR... he tried for nine years, with only a marginally contrary Congress.

The REALITY of the Office will force ANYONE to an "America First" sort of position. We have had idealists win the White House in the past... Democrat and Republican... and all have been forced by the reality of the office to follow a "moderate" path during their terms. Let's look at just a few...

Lest anyone forget, Lincoln ran for office on the PROMISE to avoid conflict over the issue of slavery. He RAN on the PROMISE to preserve the Union, and said as much when he spoke these words during the Lincoln-Douglas debates: "I do not expect the Union to be dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other." He would have worked to make the USA ALL slave, if he thought it was the only way to preserve the Union. Circumstances forced him to change his position, though, after he was elected... and he led the nation through the bloodiest conflict we have ever survived and won. If one has to compromise one's principals, it never hurts to do so in a way that ensures history is on your side.

Thomas Jefferson was convinced that the President DID NOT have the authority to do what HE did when he purchased 36% of the CONTINENT from France at $.03 per acre... but he did it anyway, because he was sure it was the right thing to do.

James Madison fought one of the most unpopular wars EVER in this nation's history... because it was the RIGHT THING TO DO. To maintain and assert US sovereignty, the US had to stand up to the abuses being perpetrated by the British on US ships and commerce... but there wasn't a business interest in the nation that thought Madison was doing the right thing... not ONE. It isn't very often that we get to see a sitting US President move in the 180 degree opposite direction from where the US financial moguls are telling him to go... and do it successfully! Jimmy Madison did it, though... even though his principals and pre-election politics told him it was the wrong thing to do.

Obama may have a vision for the future of America, and he may have managed to convince the majority of Americans that this vision is the right one for the country... but delivering on promises and principals is often far harder than anyone thinks prior to being sworn in. I have no doubt that circumstances will dictate a path that will force Obama to ensure an "America First" position in nearly everything he does, foreign policy-wise... and he will find the few GOP legislators still in Congress have a voice that can be heard even now. I won't rest on my hinder, waiting for my welfare and refunds... and I will not stand by and watch basic freedoms wash away either (specifically referring to small-arms bans here... 2nd Amendment infringements). We can keep him on a short leash by making sure the next mid-term goes the other way... or at the very least, LESS of the way it has been going.