Congratulations to President-Elect Obama

The Concord Coalition congratulates Barack Obama on his victory in the presidential election. As we detailed in a recent issue brief, the challenges he faces are formidable. Let’s hope that after a campaign lasting nearly two years, politicians, the public and the media will now turn to the crucial business of governing. On fiscal policy, it will help to suspend partisan preconceptions and focus instead on practical problem solving.

The Concord Coalition congratulates Barack Obama on his victory in the presidential election. As we detailed in a recent issue brief, the challenges he faces are formidable. Let’s hope that after a campaign lasting nearly two years, politicians, the public and the media will now turn to the crucial business of governing. On fiscal policy, it will help to suspend partisan preconceptions and focus instead on practical problem solving. Inevitably, there will be differences on the appropriate level of spending, taxes, and debt. However, these differences should be engaged in a spirit of cooperation and mutual respect with a healthy dose of fact-based analysis.

Three issues stand out: the economic downturn, the financial sector crisis and the federal budget’s long-term unsustainability. While there are linkages among these issues–most specifically the debt increase all three portend–they represent different ailments and should thus be treated with different remedies. The Obama Administration will need to calibrate fiscal policy to accommodate these differences. Short-term stimulus need not and should not increase the long-term structural deficit, just as reducing the long-term structural deficit need not and should not impede economic recovery. How, exactly, to accomplish this and where the lines should be drawn is a debate that will soon begin. For today, it is enough to congratulate Senator Obama, honor the hard effort and gracious concession by Senator McCain, and rejoice that the long campaign is over.

–Bob Bixby, Executive Director