Obama Era Is Almost Upon Us

The stage is set. The curtain rises in just 48 hours on a drama that's the four-year, perhaps eight-year, administration of President Barack Hussein Obama.

One of Obama's early moves will be to issue a presidential order to close the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay. Of course, we have to figure out what to do with the 250 detainees still there. Meanwhile, Obama has outstanding campaign obligations to the anti-anti-terror lobby.

Fortunately, the U.S. has a couple of super-duper maximum-security prisons at its disposal. I doubt many countries will accept another case like that of Bin Laden's former driver. Convicted at Guantanamo, he is now running around Yemen as a free man. Sixty-one other former Guantanamo detainees have returned to the battlefield.

There will be more on Cuba. It won't be long coming, given Obama's campaign promises and political inclinations. The 50-year-old Cuban embargo will be lifted, gradually. The embargo hasn't worked. It will be easier to soften up now that most Cuban-Americans are now in their second and third generations. There aren't too many bitter, Republican-voting, first-generation Cuban-Americans still around.

Based on the Guantanamo order, Obama's historically liberal positions and the fact he really hit the ground running just a couple of days after the polls closed, he is expected to be a take charge, hands-on president. At his first news conference, for example, Obama displayed a sign on his podium, "The Office of the President-Elect." There is no such office.

Even the term President-elect was almost two months premature. Officially, there is no president-elect until the Electoral College says there is. And the college doesn't meet until around Christmastime.

It's apparently a common mistake, but it sure made mincemeat of Obama's early pronouncements that there can only be one president at a time. True - but who's got the patience to note that claim? Especially when the newly elected president makes himself available to the news media almost every day.

Much will be revealed by how Obama handles the Democrat-controlled Congress - will he just give the Dems in Congress their marching orders or will he actually heed any of their advice?

An advance insight could have been gleaned by the way Obama handled his airplane guest list in the final days of the campaign. Glossy Ebony instead of the daily Washington Times? Give me a break.

Obama's early treatment of Hillary Clinton is another tip-off he plans to be hands-on. Nominating her as Secretary of State is a classic example of keeping your friends closer - and your enemies even closer. I assume Obama's painfully aware he's getting a two-fer at that cabinet post.

Whether it's State or any other cabinet position, you don't hear much from the Obama boys and girls about delegating power. Without delegation, there's a pretty clear signal that Obama himself intends to remain the center of the Universe - or, at least, of Washington power players.

The new president's handling of the latest Middle East war will provide a fresh clue to his real intentions. The more a truce favors Palestine, the closer it will be to an Obama liberal solution. No matter how Mrs. Clinton tries to rule Foggy Bottom.

The whole economic mess will be one of Obama's first serious challenges. If nothing works, he can always blame President Bush's leftovers. Tax refunds, again? What do we do with the 40 percent of us who don't pay any taxes to start with?

New taxes will obviously be part of any Obama plan. But, please tell me when new taxes ever smoothed over a recession. We'll know more when Obama explains in detail what he means by the rich. Aren't the rich supposed to be creating millions of new jobs?

One thing is certain: Obama has a lot of campaign debts to pay off. What better way than to use government bailout money? Another huge government bureaucracy would be needed to supervise the bailout - itself creating more jobs.

One seemingly positive outcome of an Obama administration would be its serving as a role model for improved race relations. Not forever, perhaps; indeed, there's plenty of racial bigotry left in the Old South. Ponder Obama's poor performance among white voters south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

In the short run, though, the tabloid chronicles of pappa, momma and two pre-teen girls in the White House should puncture the stereotype of unwed, uneducated blacks.