President-elect Barack Obama is set to take office as America’s next president on January 20, 2009. Surrounding his inauguration in 2 weeks there seems to be a large amount of optimism as he unveils his ambitions for America’s future. This comes about as the outgoing U.S. President, George W. Bush, has become increasingly unpopular.
Obama has raised many people’s hopes since his landslide election victory 2 months ago, as he unveiled one of the largest stimulus plans in U.S. history. He plans to spend nearly $800 billion over a 2 year period in order to create millions of new jobs and stimulate the U.S. out of recession.
On one hand, leaders in Europe and the around the world are optimistic as they see that Obama’s approach to economics and politics is closer to theirs than Bush’s. On the other hand, Obama’s reforms can only be judged as economic events unfold throughout his presidency.
The recent economic stimulus program that has been predominantly injected into banks has temporarily stabilized the Dollar and helped lead to rallies in the U.S. stock market. However, Obama will need to be more creative than Bush, because only a social revolution like Franklin Roosevelt’s may restore America as the undisputed economic superpower.
Obama continues his rhetoric that things will get worse before they get better. The question therefore is can Obama shorten the recession and help the U.S. economy rebound by the 3rd quarter of 2009?
