Dateline: November 17, 2008-- it was hailed as a legendary market call from an investing legend. It was the mother of all buy signals. It was a bold call, albeit one grounded in well-established investment theory.

Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor who made his fortune buying stocks on downturns, had advised America to buy stocks; but this time it turned out to be a calamity.

And now Mr. Buffett, Barack Obama's formerly highly-touted economic guru, recently emerged from out of his hiding place and pronounced in his news letter..." the U.S. economy will remain in a shambles through 2009".
 
Oh, but not to worry; Mr. Buffet forecasts..."better days ahead for the country".
 
Sure-- better days ahead-- trillion dollar deficits as far as the eye can see. Bleak outlooks for all the nation's large banks; and Barack Obama's repeated claims that our nation is in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression-- all are jawboning the stock market southward.

The result? The Dow hit a low this week not seen since the glory days of 1997, below the 7000 level. And the economic tea leaves and news coming out of financial companies is still so alarming that investors feel no other alternative than to head for the exits.

But how concerned is the White House about the impact of the recent $11 trillion in wealth that has vanished from the stock market?

Apparently, not much

"I think it is unwise to believe everything we do is designed to cause an immediate market reaction, or that the score should only be kept by that,'' said Robert (Mr. Smirk- rhymes with jerk) Gibbs.

The smirky-jerky White House press secretary, continued... "If you look at the news of the week, the market probably processes in a lot of information, whether its price increases, or a lot of news throughout the globe about a deteriorating economy". Gibbs then suggested, "it's more likely a reflection of the nation's challenges, not merely a reaction to what the White House is doing."

Translation: anti-president Obama is not responsible for this downturn--it's what "we inherited" from the failed policies of the Bush administration, and a greedy Wall Street taking advantage of Main Street.

But traders and investors alike beg to differ:
 
Stocks are a bet on future performance and earnings. And right now, people have low to no confidence in the fiscal and monetary gyrations the Obama administration is going through. The stock market has incrementally shed value since Mr Obama was nominated, then elected, and then inaugurated--- each event caused another prolonged dip in stock prices.

And now with every doom and gloom statement Mr. Obama  makes (to innoculate him against failure of his program), stocks churn again.  Stock values always decline during periods of uncertainties; and what could be more uncertain than Obama's recent "to-and- fro" pronouncements, which virtually guaranteed the disastrous drops.
 
Every other word out of Obama's mouth is "crisis" or "calamity" or "catastrophe"; and investors and traders alike respond accordingly. A huge psychological component to the underlying market always exists; yet Obama obsessively continues to play his calamitous game of boogie man vs. Wall Street.

But could there be some ulterior motive...a more cunning reason? Is Obama exploiting fear and insecurity to facilitate his socialist power grab?
 
Obama claimed he would be a transformational leader; but the only thing transformational about his anti-presidency is that it will transform the dollar into a worthless currency, and the country into a third-world socialist nanny state.
 
And just WHEN will the media stop their cover-up for their candidate, who became our selected (not elected) 44th president? When does Obama actually become accountable for his policies' impact on the economy?
 
Obama seems to reflect a compulsion to keep driving the Dow down.

Yes indeed, he'll show those "greedy fat-cats" (a.k.a. the American public) who dared to invest in the stock market!  And as he's talking down the Dow, he's dragging down capitalism and the free market economy. It’s all part of his government dependency plan.
 
And going back to ever since his socialist comrades in Congress-- Pelosi & Reid-- took over on March 3, 2007, when the DJ Index closed at 12474, it now trades below the crucial support level of 7000. Support levels are used by Wall Street technicians to predict emotional buy-sell trigger points in market indexes.

So look out below--there may be further downside --a lot further. Just in the first month that Mr. Obama has been in office, the DJI has lost 1000 points.

And the stock market could continue to get pounded with Obama's insane, inane, financial agenda: spending $787 billion (before interest) on the economic debt expansion package (disguised as a stimulus); and then another $400 billion in supplemental spending-- and introducing a $3.5 trillion budget that next year alone will result in the highest annual budget deficit in U.S. history, which will consume an unheard-of 12.3% of the nation's gross domestic product.
 
But that just for starters! Obama forecasts trillions in deficit spending in his first term; then the next week, he's gung-ho for a plan halving the upwardly-spiraling deficit.

So if you were a big money investor, what would you think?

Obama's insanity-calamity deficit-spending profligacy has Wall Streeters heading for the hills; And with Obama on his current socialist, wealth-transfer, tax-hike frenzy, it will only worsen to the point where 1930-32 could become the new market model for Obama's wealth-destroying policies.

Right now, the market climate on Wall Street resembles an old time Japanese horror flick: Wall Street investors fleeing in panic from the Barack Obama wealth destruction monster--breathing his fire of higher taxes and socialism at every American financial institution.

And Wall Street sees the writing on the wall-- their worst, post election fears are coming true--- sensing that Obama is going to keep on spending and spending, with his objective to make the USA into a complete welfare state.
 
But if only Obama would pay attention to history, and truly get behind a sound policy that would stop the bloodletting.

Obama obviously knows that he could stimulate investment by lowering taxes on the "job creators"...the small businesses. But that would mean surrendering---giving up wealth (power) to the private sector-- and undermining his aim to railroad power from Wall Street to Washington.

Currently, investors are longing for the Reagan years, when lower income taxes decreased the cost of capital, and thus lowered the "hurdle rates" for various investments and projects. And the Dow took off in October, 82 and rose magnificently until March of 2000, with the internet bubble bust.

Right now Obama could provide an overnight turnaround if he cut corporate taxes, which would to help bring jobs home from overseas, and also would reduce the cost of capital for more investment.

And if Obama reduced capital gains and dividend taxes from 15% to 7.5%, it also would lower the cost of capital and create more investment. Remember that the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th longest economic growth cycles have occurred after the top tax brackets had been lowered.
 
But Comrade-in chief Obama has other ideas; just look at what happens when he speaks:

On inauguration day you could follow the dive of the Dow as he delivered his address. Whenever Geithner and Bernanke spoke recently, the market dived. After the anti- stimulus bill was passed by Congress, the market dove.

Words are important to the markets; and so far Mr. Obama's words have given the market nothing but negative reassurances.
 
The market trades basically on solid expectations. But the one thing the Street cannot tolerate is uncertainty. And the market is spiraling down in a cyclone of economic bad omens. And worse, the specter of the Obama tax hikes has basically pulled the plug for any type of bounce for the Dow-Jones in the near future.

Wall Street is about creating wealth. But Obama is about destroying wealth. Oppressive tax policies on the wealthy destroy initiative; and destroy the most essential element of future economic expansion--CAPITAL. People seem to be thrown for a loop when that word 'capital' is tossed out there. That includes Barack Obama.

But the maddening question is: Why doesn’t the Chosen One choose to calm the waters? If Obama would only make a simple announcement: "We do not plan on raising taxes for the foreseeable future, because in a downturn, this is a bad idea".

But instead, we get: "Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes; not any of your taxes.
 
Translation: if you make over $250K, your lifestyle is going to mimic the stock market--it's about to take a sudden plunge-- and it will take the economy down with it.
 
And all during the prolonged plunge, Obama stubbornly has taken a phlegmatic approach to the massive losses in the market; while all the while, panicked investors and big money speculators--fearing another 1929-- are driven to panic selling.

But Obama doesn't see the losses as suffering for people, but rather an opportunity, because he suffers himself from that incurable disease-- economic socialist liberalism-- a disease which is always terminal, and has no cure.

Economic liberalism's symptoms are many, but the cause is simple-- those who suffer from it have never worked a hard day in their lives. They have no idea of what it takes to earn a buck in the real world; they never have had a real job in the private sector.

Thus according to comrade Obama; anyone who has more money "than they deserve," must surrender the excess to those who have less. A philosophy which is an anathema to Wall Street.

After 1929, the market didn't recover for 25 years, until1954. And for all we know it could go down much more from here, reminiscent of the good ole days of 1930-36.
 
So after 200 years of presidents who have praised the economic strengths of Americans, Obama is celebrating our weakness. His negative words have done almost as much damage to the stock market as all the financial challenges combined.

And Obama knows well the one TRUE economic index to be concerned with: the power a fascist can seize is directly proportional to the severity of the crisis.

Obama has learned well his socio-marxist-fascist strategy: It is much easier to frighten people than to urge them to do the right thing.
 
Barack Obama, former South Chicago community organizer; he was not trained to give people hope and encourage them to strive to be better; his training was to convince people that they were truly downtrodden and oppressed, and that only the government could save them.
 
So Obama welcomes a terrible economy-- it enables him to call it a crisis, and enact desperation measures that steal individual freedom from Americans. Obama wants everyone to need government. And bigger government bestows more power to Washington.
 
Fear and intimidation is a standard policy, Just look at Cuba (or any socialist nation) and you can see that Obama is ruling in the same manner as any socialist dictator would. Thus our anti-president needs a declining economy. It makes it easier to install full-fledged fascistic socialism.
 
Barack Obama- the Marxist man with a populist, preacher-like Mussolini slant.

So what's the best advice to Wall Street and investors alike? Buy "puts" on the option markets; go "short"; brace for further declines.

Until Obama learns the difference between being a leader and being a manipulator, the markets will descend. Until Obama learns how to solve problems, not exploit them, the market will go down.

But if Barack's callous calculations somehow don't work out-- if it's only one term for our fearless, socialist leader-- he'll find out that all along, tax cuts and prosperity (not fear and uncertainty) should have been the way to go.

And "Yes we can", will quickly turn into a..."I wish we did."

www.keenobserver.blogtownhall.com

And now...a moment of silence to pray for the savior. Our hallowed President-elect, Barack Obama, is facing a rapidly growing list of monumental challenges as he prepares to take the reins of a nation in turmoil. Obama sounds dire, particularly when he recently spoke about the economy: "We're in an emergency", he stated rather succinctly.

But the media is solidly behind Obama's emergency strategy. The Associated Press recently issued a release that sounded as if 1933 was Nirvana compared to the present:(quote) "With woes foreign and domestic on more fronts than even Franklin D. Roosevelt encountered when he took office in the midst of the Great Depression, Obama will be sworn in as the country's 44th president in January" (unquote). Whoa now-- this AP report does sound dire indeed!

 

But an emergency? Oh sure--such an emergency! Mr Obama may have to call out the National Guard to control the all the bargain-crazed holiday shoppers, who are out in droves at the nation's malls and big box stores. And the highways and roads are hardly deserted. In fact, the price of gas has dropped faster than the Dow-Jones, and trucks and SUV's have made a Lazarus-like resurrection from the dead. If the banks were to loosen up on their credit boycott, pent-up new vehicle sales would be further proof that the Obama "declaration of an emergency" is bereft of credibility.

And the precipitous decline in the world price for crude oil also throws a gorilla-sized monkey wrench into Barack's strategy for "creating five million new green energy jobs". Wind and solar may be the renewable energy sources of the future, but the market demand for such projects is practically zilcho, now that oil is cheap again, and the prices of all other energy (such as coal and natural gas) have fallen along in "sympathy".

 

Even the weather is not co-operating. The coldest November-December in North America since 1976 seems to have put the damper on Obama's pet projects--turning back the oceans, and saving the planet from 'climate change'. Even the glaciers within the Arctic Circle are in defiance of the savior; they are now in the process of reforming as the earth returns to another cooling cycle.

 

Oh woe is the almighty Barack! It seems the only real emergency is that our president-elect's sacred credibility is looking iffy when you consider that nobody is forming soup lines, and rising layoffs may be more the case of Obamanomic fear-mongering, than the actual economic reality at hand. This begs the question: is Barack trying to talk our economy into a depression? And that begs the second question-- why would he do that?

 

Back in late 1932, president-elect Franklin Roosevelt watched the economy slide further and further into the abyss, but did nothing. Times indeed were at an emergency then. There were 12 million out of work, 25% unemployment, and 23,000 Americans had committed suicide, because they had gone from rich to poor literally overnight, and could not reconcile this with themselves. People WERE actually in danger of starving. There was no welfare or safety net back then.

 

So after Roosevelt finally took the reins, the nation was literally panting for a savior, and FDR was given political carte blanche to do whatever he deemed necessary, in the period history has dubbed, "The First 100 Days"

 

And Barack wants to be the next FDR: sit back while the economy tanks...make the situation seem worse than it is....build up the hopes of the anxious people...then emerge dramatically next Jan. 21 as the great savior, just like FDR after his transition period.

 

Obama's  false emergency declaration will allow him to ram through Congress much of his disastrous leftist attack on our free market capitalism, and even upon the Constitution itself. Look for the savior to please his political special interests, as he destroys much of our heavy industry by taxing the energy producers, and forcing the green cars of the future upon us, when neither is necessary. And the more Obama can play boogie-man, the more willing Americans will be amenable to granting him powers far beyond that of any previous mortal who served in the Whitehouse

 

 

Of course the Machiavellian Obama knows all this; so what will he be doing before the big inauguration? He'll be laying the groundwork for getting everything out the door the very day he gets in, with is his mega- trillion stimulus package. And  this "emergency" also includes climate change, government health care, and all the other socialistic goodies he's been planning as a truly "transformational" president.

Another vital facet of Obama's emergency is speed--getting everything out the door quickly. By avoiding anything that requires planning, and throwing huge sums of stimulus money at things that already obvious, Obama will truly seem FDR-like by proposing a plethora of ideas that seem sound, but are decidedly old-school, make-work government programs. How transformational is it to refurbish roads and bridges, and repairing schools and federal buildings?

Come next January, the spending binge will blast off, because an eager-beaver Congress will turn Obama's first 100 days into the first 100 hours. Things will get rushed through that would otherwise, hit Congressional roadblocks in more politically sanguine times. Opposing Obama will be like opposing Santa-- it will be so politically incorrect that any dissenting republicans will run for cover-- lest they be swamped by a wave of public disapproval from all sides.

And because Obama will be spending so much upfront, will there be anything left for the transformational projects America truly needs, such as innovative rail systems (i.e. high speed) and social programs that address our true problems: those concerning public school discipline, abortion and teen pregnancy, and the thousands of drug-addicted, alcohol-addled people who shamelessly beg in the nation's downtowns.

To Obama's credit, a stimulus package may psychologically benefit in the short term. And bailouts may provide stopgap relief for the troubled auto and airline industries. But unless the savior can put aside his politics of emergency, little will be done to relieve the most intractable, long-term problems that truly require transformational solutions.

 

During his first term, Obama may discover that his band-aid approach won't work where major surgery is required. And Dr. Barack may also realize too late that his self-declared economic emergency was all along, a misrepresentation -- and there will be no wave of "change" that involves "spreading the wealth" around-- only a new cover on the old-fashioned socialistic policies of the past; which is Obama's version of the old 1930's New Deal.

 

And if the savior isn't careful, his declaration of emergency could backfire into a self-fulfilling prophesy, and result in a truly unnecessary second depression if he doesn't soon change his doom 'n gloom tune.

Students of history, take notice. We're all about about to make a sudden sharp left, and we're not talking about someone's back-seat driving instructions, either.

Hints of this upcoming "transition" (i.e. our "centrist" president-elect turns leftist) were evident in Obama's recent post-election "60 Minutes" interview on CBS, with Steve Kroft. One could literally see Obama's face brighten up like a sunrise during this exchange:

Kroft: Have you been reading anything about the Depression?
Obama: There’s a new book out about FDR’s first 100 days; and what you see in FDR is what I hope my team can "emulate"...

From this little snippet, it's overtly evident that Obama has studied Franklin Roosevelt assiduously. Obama could undoubtedly author a term paper titled, "Our 32nd President: How FDR saved America from prosperity for ten years, expanded the federal government and presidential power to unprecedented new levels; and became a cult hero and was re-elected 3 times, after creating millions of new government dependents."

This is basically the role Obama (the blank slate) was looking for all along ever since November 5. So he's now...ta-da, "the self adopted Son of FDR."

Presently, the democrats want Obama sworn in immediately. They're calling for him to "take charge"..."be more proactive". Translation: "Roll out the pork barrel now--our constituents are murmuring-- we cant wait any more!"

Since Obama has promised a massive rebuild of the nation's infrastructure, after January 21 it'll be governors galore coming out of the woodwork with..."Hey Mr. President, have I got a bridge for you!

Democratic freshmen Congressmen are lining up madly like at the entrance of Walmart on black Friday. They already smell the green to buy the votes they'll need for re-election in 24 short months , and are salivating in a virtual feeding frenzy. This pork-picnic anticipation has been building ever since that 60 Minutes interview, after Obama dropped this neutron fiscal bomb:

Kroft: Where is all the money going to come from to do all of these things...?
OBAMA: We have to do whatever it takes to get this economy moving again...and that we SHOULDN'T WORRY about the deficit next year or even the year after.

Attention everybody...now hear this! The Almighty Barack hath spoken; deficits do not matter now, so start the printing presses...break out the monopoly money, and give out the community chest cards to everyone 'cause Santa Barack is coming to town!

In the interim before his inauguration, Obama will spoon feed enough centrist rhetoric to keep his critics at bay, while he knows the economy is sliding downhill faster than the May 1940 fall of France. So under the guise of..."there's only 1 president at a time", O-bam-0 will act presidential, but non-committal. Then, just like FDR "taught him", he'll continue to let the crisis build, let the nation hope and worry, and then... poof! He'll magically appear as their savior on January 21. It's a pretty good game plan, and FDR hit a grand slam with it as far as being able to acquire power that was unprecedented in history up until that time in 1933.

Obama will act just "presidential enough" keep the nation in awe of his "coolness under crisis", and at the same time, he can continue to blame the falling economy on "the failed policies of the Bush administration". It's the old football strategy, running the same play as long as it keeps working.

And speaking of work, Obama recently has come out with a "2 year plan" (careful Barack, we're getting rather soviet here). Obama has directed his economic team to come up with a two year plan for job creation..."The key for us is making sure that we jumpstart the economy in a way that does not just deal with the short term, does not just create jobs immediately, but also puts us on a glide path for long term sustainable economic growth...a plan that not only creates jobs, but also puts the public agenda ahead of the agenda of the private interests."

But ironically, the private interests are those who would seize the opportunity to create ACTUAL work, which are the real job problems Obama claims he can solve, but will not.

Now lets get hypothetical: let's say Obama were to split the money 50-50 public vs private, and declare; "may the best sector win". The entrepreneurs and so called special interests would emerge. They would invest the government grants and put capitalism to the task of creating real wealth. America is a nation unrivaled for innovation, and new ideas would flood into the market, and people would be put to work fabricating new goods (electronics, communication devices, etc) which creates newly-needed support services, that beget more hiring, and then generates the wealth-multiplier effect that all viable markets create.

Markets create wealth because people are needed to carry out the demands of the users who seek those very same services and goods. But Obama knows nothing about free markets or real jobs, because he's never run anything, not even a paper route. And since Obama has never experienced real work, he thinks the government does everything best; just as did his patron saint of government failure, Franklin Roosevelt.

Back in 1933, FDR saw his opening to forge opportunity from crisis, and succeeded on a historic scale. We had the FERA, CWA, WPA,, the CCC. and the RFD, and every other thing he could dream up back then. Sure he created a lot of jobs, but not any real work! So the depression was prolonged because FDR for all his glory, couldn't create any wealth, which can only be done in the private sector. And previous history bears this out

The Egyptian pharaohs were probably the original socialists and originators of government programs to "create" jobs; and look at all the gigantic public works projects they produced; the pyramids, the Sphinx, and all the grand monuments of Egyptian innovation and engineering and construction. But since these were the original government make-work programs, other than the weather worn structures, when the Pharaohs died out, so did the economy, and the culture and the country fell into disrepair. And not much is different there today.

But what if the Pharaohs had used the private sector? If King Khufu had cut a deal with maybe some Assyrian contractors, they could have come in and HIRED the engineers and foreman, and laborers, stone cutters, block layers, and surveyors, and the waterboys. They would have been paid WAGES; and once the job was done, the contractors would have maybe moved on to Athens to construct the Parthenon, while all the workers would have been left with lots of money to spend.

Now this wealthier new Egyptian middle class could afford to buy things. They would have undoubtedly demanded some good provisions, and nice housing, and some cool garb, so than all new industries would have sprung up to provide them. There would have been an agriculture industry. There would have been a new apparel industry, there would have been new housing industries; all creating the need to HIRE more people, doing real work. Now the great new cities of Egypt would have sprung up. The population would have multiplied, and created a permanent supply/demand PRIVATE economy that may have flourished and possible elevated CAIRO as the Rome of its day, because all great nations were built and sustained by WEALTH!

All governments if they see fit, can create jobs but not wealth. If they could, poverty would be virtually non existent in the world.

A federal agency could hire people to dig holes, and hire a second group to fill them up. But then after the "project" was completed, (or the grant ran out), both groups would be dependent on unemployment compensation. This may be getting a little too flippant, but it illustrates the point-- government programs employ, but they do not HIRE. And these programs are paid by grants...they are not wages. But hiring and wages imply permanence, while employing and grants imply obsolescence...the government jobs never last because the demand for them was not there in the first place; it was created, not needed.

Once again, the missing part of the economic equation in government programs is THE demand side. If only the taxpayers money could have been better put to use, it would be different. The idea for any government is to create a political climate for the creation of wealth.

Example: if the government instead would provide low interest loans and tax breaks to small business (the real job engine of the United States), look at the huge difference. New small businesses from creative entrepreneurs now spring up everywhere; unemployment drops sharply; newly enriched workers begin buying new homes, TV's, cars, phones, computers, creating a new wave of demand for more workers who are paid more wages, and they now expand the unfettered free market ever further, and so on.

But Obama despise free markets, they diffuse power away from the government and back in the hands of the private sector; which is what Obama will be fighting against. The more power he can wrest from the private sector, the larger he'll be able to expand the federal bureaucracy; basically doing exactly what FDR did to win re-election for 4 terms, by creating a culture of government dependency. But wouldn't people be much better of with a real semi-permanent job rather than a monthly government hand out from the savior?

But it all goes back to expanded government dependency (socialism). And socialism doesn't generate wealth, but instead creates dependency, anxiety, misery, and class envy.

Obama may be our most promising, most inspirational president-elect ever, but the jury is out as to how America will fare under the soviet model of central planning, two year and three year programs, with czars appointed to run major industries, health care, energy and all the other czars that will be deemed necessary to "fix this crisis".

Obama's grand utopian vision will not create any private jobs. It will not create any permanent wealth. But it WILL dangerously inflate the dollar, and WILL saddle us with a 10 -to-20 year "plan" of huge ballooning budget deficits, burdened by the unsustainable interest on an out-of-control national debt, and portending nothing good for the long term; only the possibility of insolvency, bankruptcy, future misery, and a 3rd world economy, just like they have in Egypt now.

One of the most awkward periods in the final path to the presidency is that lame duck "transition " period, lying between the election, and the inauguration, where it's out with the old president and in with the new.

The interregnum between Hoover and Roosevelt was indeed one of the most interesting case studies of any lame duck period, because of all the financial tumult that confronted the nation back then, and the remarkable similarities to now.

Like Obama in the wake of Bush, Roosevelt did not want to take responsibility for Hoover’s problems, or his proposals.  FDR wanted the country to perceive a sharp break when he took over, even if he would ultimately adopt some of Hoover's same strategies for arresting the Depression.

Hoover had repeatedly reached out to Roosevelt to present a united front after the 1932 election, only to be ignored or rebuffed. But Roosevelt knew better.

Hoover made a final, futile effort for co-operation on the eve of the March 1933 inauguration, and tried to get Roosevelt’s support for a bank holiday, because over 16,000 banks had already gone under, and 12 million people were out of work

Roosevelt's reply to the idea was...“Like hell I will". Nasty-nasty. Well, as Truman once said... "if you want a friend in Washington...getta dog!

Roosevelt then went on to spite Hoover, (copying his proposal) and went ahead and ordered a four-day bank closure on his own.

Roosevelt repeatedly went out of his way to keep Hoover in exile for years...decimating him as having caused the Great Depression. But Roosevelt was hardly alone.
 
In early 1861, Abraham Lincoln essentially kept silent as Southern states peeled away from the Union after he won election in 1860. But before he was sworn in, Mr. Lincoln shrewdly chose to leave the hapless James Buchanan, the incumbent, to handle the disaster himself until Inauguration Day.

The transition period in Lincoln’s and Roosevelt’s day dragged on far longer than it does today, a relic of the years when travel depended on the horse-drawn carriage. After the marathon gap between Roosevelt’s election and Inauguration, the Constitution was changed to move up the beginning of the new president’s term from March 4 to Jan. 20

Historically, there have always been uncomfortable overlaps between outgoing and incoming presidents in moments of difficulty.

Lyndon Johnson was desperately trying to get North Vietnam to the negotiating table right before the 1968 elections, but Richard Nixon's camp sabotaged that by persuading South Vietnam not to participate.

Jimmy Carter was desperately trying to get Iran to release American hostages before the 1980 election, but to no avail. Even today, some unforgiving Democrats have promoted theories about the involvement by Reagan supporters in the 'conspiracy' to make Carter look incompetent up to last minute.

Today, after the 80 year Roosevelt revolution in constitutional law, everyone believes that the federal government possesses nearly unlimited authority. And Mr. Obama certainly will give credence to that. He plans on creating one government program after another to keep the bread lines from forming. and the apple sellers off the corners.

But for a president in waiting, there is risk in looking too much like...a president in waiting!

So Obama is now the busy beaver, using his superb organizational skills in getting things ready so he can “hit  the ground running. And after January 21 he plans on moving fast.

But his biggest problem, stimulating the economy, may prove to be a cinch for Mr Obama. He’s now the czar of popularity; and a certified celebrity on the world stage.

Barack seems to have figured our a way to provide his own self-generated economic stimulus. Ironically he was mocked by the McCain campaign as being a rock star...but on January 21, will we see an inauguration?... or a coronation? Right now, the way Obama merchandise is being sold across the country, we may see a canonization! O holy saint Barack, you can do no wrong!

The near-flawless way Barack ran his campaign, and his true power to attract the masses, are undeniably reason enough to think Mr. Obama may one day eclipse all previous presidents in popularity if he manages to prove his critics wrong.

Up to now, consumers have already spent over 200 million on their beloved president-elect turned hero. He shrewdly allowed himself to be placed as the best-marketed presidential candidate in history, bearing the sophisticated branding of a John  Kennedy, and the media magnetism of an FDR.

But how was Barack able to do it? Was it the fact that he looked so collegial in his $1500 designer suit, with the cheshire photogenic smile? Or was it the fact that next to the plodding rhetorical style of John McCain, Barack in comparison, provided that polished style of elocution that could lift and inspire any crowd to a fever pitch?

McCain was the candidate that couldn't verbally shoot straight: “My friends" he would say repeatedly to the dismay of the people, making them into enemies, who tuned him out en masse; and then sought out the silver-tongued Obama, who could talk his way out of Auschwitz, and be given a new suit for the trip home.

But with star power like that, it's no surprise that once Obama triumphed , the 'brand identity' would follow, and people would cash in. And yet, it's still two months away before he becomes president.

First came the magazines-- Obama has been on more front covers lately than Jolie and Pitt. Then there were the spinoffs from the publishers, like posters, plaques, books, coffee mugs and reprints.

Now there on online stores by the hundreds, selling Obama merchandise. 'People Magazine' sold a record 2 million copies of its election issue. There are Obama commemorative issues galore of many of the other major magazines.

There are Obama T-- shirts from web sites, and Barack Obama commemorative photos. The "iconization" of Obama is underway full speed with no end in sight for the next four years!

Obama is being elevated as 'a seminal figure',  who'll make presidential history. But will Obama be diminished in the Whitehouse if his performance doesn't live up to his celebrity? Not hardly. And certainly not any time soon.

Strangely, last summer, Obama was accused of injecting racism into the campaign while speaking in Missouri.  Obama, (who never lacks self confidence in public), spoke then of himself in the third person..."He doesn't look like all those other presidents on those dollar bills."

Now how about this for an ironic twist: there are coins layered in 24 carat gold being issued bearing Obama's smiling visage. The Danbury mint has even gotten in on the action, advertising two different "patriotic medallions, and a historic commemorative plate with 22 carat gold rim.

And even more ironic, someday soon in history, do not be surprised to see the re-incarnation of the thousand dollar bill bearing the likeness of the Chosen one, displacing Grover Cleveland.

What’s to come after that?  Well, there's Mount Rushmore...but that may take awhile to get going.

HELP WANTED: Experienced sculptors. Must be good with granite. Must have own tools. Should be enchanted. Obamamania required. Apply in person.                      

And there's the dictionary of "obama-nisms". There are obama-gasms for people who faint at his feet... there is obamanomics when his programs are discussed... there are obamma-crats, obammunists, and people of all stripes who identify with either him or his politics.

There is Obama bin Laden...Obama bashin' n' trashin'...Obama and yo mama...Obama-buster...and Obama drama. And we've only just scratched the surface. The possibilities are  infinite!

How about a designer line of suits? Obama is definitely the GQ president if there ever was one.

How about "Obama wear" for the evening?  Black tie and tuxedos for the A-list Washington male crowd.

And let's not forget athletic wear. Since his election, Barack Obama has spent the last three Sunday mornings skipping church and working out in a gym. So can you just picture it now..air Obama sneakers...or "yes we can" running attire? And autographed Obama basketballs are a cinch to be all the rage. And the official NCAA Obama-sanctioned football...could that be in the offing for next season? Stay tuned.

What about highways and streets? Whoa...now we're really expanding some horizons! The Obama name-game will no doubt be ubiquitous on future maps everywhere. Move over Martin Luther King...make way fo' Obama.

And don't forget about the Obama moniker on schools and hospitals and muny buildings in all the blue states. For sure, they'll want to jump on the bandwagon.

Richard Stengel, editor of TIME magazine, says, "Were talking about history here...people want his memorabilia to mark a milestone in their lives, and in the life of our country."

President-elect Obama has appeared on more shows then any candidate in the USA ever, and people in America simply could not help voting for him because he is everywhere...he is Barack…the Chosen One.