Ted's Take

Yikes.

I have seen so many interviews with really important people and smart media types post election on all of the good things the new administration will do for us. Even DC Mayor Fenty was discussing this morning all of the new programs that President-Elect Obama would bring into our city: New funding; new programs; new housing; and additional federal aid.

Yikes.

Our President-Elect doesn’t have a magic wand. The sentiment is that the economy will worsen further from now until January 20th. The market got crushed just the day after the President swept the election. There is no light seen at the end of the dark tunnel yet. Do you see one? Perhaps this was why President-Elect Obama seemed low key and was tempering expectations in his acceptance speech. This journey is the hardest one faced by an incoming President. Perhaps only FDR or a Lincoln faced worst circumstances.

If there are fewer revenues and fewer earnings, the tax base will be smaller even if the effective tax rate increases. If the base is shrinking, the revenues to spend on new programs will be smaller not growing. There will be less economic growth and less revenue from the people that get taxed.

The new President will have to be really tough on saying NO. The new administration will have to zero base budget programs that are needed and ones that need to be created or strengthened. We are a “gazillion” dollars in debt now already. :-) We have to look at government and spending and programs the way a new CEO of a company would cast a critical eye - cutting what is waste or non-essential and focusing us on big important programs that are needed in these new times. We need a “rebuild” now. We have to say NO to say YES!

It is hyper ironic that the Republicans have presided over BIG Government build-up and deficit; privatized banks; doled out bailout dollars; and initiated huge deficit spending as they once stood for “less is more” in government. And now the most liberal President we have ever elected will have to start to say NO. Saying NO will free up dollars to reemphasize elsewhere. There is no taxing mechanism at all on top earners that can grow us out of the issues we face. That is fact. Our liberal President will have to act like a Republican President to fix the economy; get us re-respected globally; and make Americans feel good about ourselves again. He can raise taxes but if he doesn’t say NO, his new programs won’t get funded.

Strategy and vision and hopes and dreams won the election. Say it one last time, “Yes we can.”

But now harsh reality will set in. We will have to cut and re-orient and reboot. Get used to it. Say it loud and proud, “No we won’t.”

This change in uber brand strategy from campaign promises to operational excellence will be the biggest challenge our new President has to conquer. We are all in it together but this journey is not going to be as much fun as the pundits seem to show in their glee the morning after.