Obama: the change that's not.(THE RIGHT RESPECTIVE)(Barack Obama)

President Bush has left office amid the greatest economic calamity in several generations, perhaps ever. The federal budget deficit is poised to triple last year's record $400 billion, rising to a projected $1.2 trillion. Trillions too have been added to the national debt by a desperate Bush administration and craven Congress, most to bail out America's corporate and financial oligarchs. Meanwhile, the federal government continues to prosecute its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and myriad other expensive military projects overseas, as well as preside over a vast array of welfare programs and subsidies. De spite tens of trillions of dollars of debt, the federal government continues to borrow and spend as though money grows on trees--which, in the presto-chango economics of Federal Reserve printing presses, it does.

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Enter Barack Obama, a fresh face, saddled with endless wars, a federal government drowning in debt, and a host of other intractable problems brought about by decades of federal corruption and abuse. Throughout his campaign, Obama, exuding competence and confidence, promised change to a war- and recession-weary American public.

Were he Ron Paul, Obama might be expected to do the right thing--to end America's debilitating overseas military activities, scale back the federal government to within constitutionally authorized bounds (bounds that have not been observed since before the First World War), and return our money to a sound footing--a gold and silver standard.

But Obama is not Ron Paul, and intends none of these things. Instead, youth, freshness, and glib campaign slogans notwithstanding, Obama intends to continue the policies of his predecessors, and very likely will take full advantage of the global crisis to further reduce America to fiscal and political servitude.

President Obama believes only government--not the free market--can save us from economic ruin. "At this particular moment, only government can provide the short-term boost necessary to lift us from a recession this deep and severe," Obama warned recently in a speech at George Mason University, adding that the ongoing recession could "linger for years" unless Congress spends unprecedented sums on bailouts and other faux stimuli. While details of what the Obama camp has been calling the American Recovery and Investment Plan have yet to be made public, Obama's aides have indicated the price tag may exceed ...