Q&A #9: Obama's Dilemma

"Mick T" asks:

How is President Obama going to "fix" everything; the Economy, Iraq, Afghanistan, Detroit. In time to re-run for President without the opposition blaming him for all the woes?

Barack Obama is not, alas, going to fix everything immediately -- although I am hoping he gets around to redoing my porch before April. Also, I'd like him to install a ceiling fan, but that can wait until summer.

I think that the American people are going to give him a pretty long leeway before he starts to "own" those problems -- they're pretty well convinced (accurately or not) that A) the problems are very serious and long-term, and B) they're all the Republicans' fault.

Re-election is a long way away; if he hasn't made substantial progress by then, he won't deserve re-election.

So, I think Obama is OK for 12 months, and probably OK after three years; the question is the grey area in between, when problems will likely still linger, and the public's patience begins to wear out.

And that's when the mid-term election come. Those 2010 elections will be very, very interesting, with great consequences for the country, and I will be following them closely -- so you should follow this blog religiously and tell everyone you know to do the same.

Oh, and one final important point: you mention "the opposition." This is the ace in the Obama hole; the Republican Party and its leaders are incapable of taking advantage of anything right now, and appear unlikely to be in any position to do so for the foreseeable future.