OBAMA IS YOUR NEW IKE:

Obama's economic strategy (Michael Barone, January 15, 2009 , Washington Times)

How will Barack Obama govern as president? One clue, I think, is the site where he chose to make his first post-election policy speech, laying out his economic stimulus plan last week.

Presumably he had many invitations and could have made it anywhere in Washington. But he chose to trek out to Northern Virginia, to George Mason University, a school known for its free-market economics department. And the plan he unveiled there is not exactly what you might have expected from a politician who in 2007 had the most liberal voting record in the Senate, according to National Journal.

To be sure, he called for massive infrastructure spending, for alternative energy investment, for more health-care spending - all items from the Democratic wish list. But he also called for tax cuts for individuals and businesses - the sort of thing Republicans usually press for. Three weeks ago, I put forward the guess that Mr. Obama would hold himself aloof from and above his party, much as Dwight Eisenhower did in the 1950s. It seems that, for the moment anyway, I guessed right.

Democratic wish list? Ike was responsible for the biggest infrastructure boondoggle in US history.

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 15, 2009 8:19 AM