Calm Down! 7 Reasons to Be Skeptical

Yep; here are some reasons for concern and skepticism about Obama
By Gabriel Winant,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 21, 2009 10:21 AM CST
Calm Down! 7 Reasons to Be Skeptical
Barack Obama takes the oath of office to become the 44th president of the United States in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009.   (AP Photo/Robert Glass)

Yesterday’s inauguration was such a feel-good fest, and our problems are so dire, that everybody is on board with President Obama. Leave it to Politico’s Jim VandeHei and John F. Harris, then, to give us some reasons for skepticism:

  • The genius fallacy: The best and brightest screw up, too. Everyone’s praising Larry Summers and Timothy Geithner as brilliant? They did the same with Alan Greenspan and Robert Rubin, who deserve a fair share of blame for this crisis.

  • The herd instinct: “Some of Washington’s biggest blunders occur when the government moves to do big things with big support.”
  • We are broke: “This country has never reckoned with deficits like these.”
  • Everyone is winging it: No one knows what to do. “People who used to bemoan deficits want to spend like crazy.” Improvising is appropriate, but it doesn’t seem likely to take us to just the right destination.
  • The watchdogs are dozing: Media? What media? And don’t count on a Democratic Congress to breathe down Obama’s neck, either.
Read the full list at the link below.
(More Barack Obama stories.)

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