Difficult Year Gone By

Washington area has been been blanketed by snow. On this weekend before Christmas, instead of being struck in traffic trying to finish that last minute shopping, I am enjoying the breathtaking beauty of the white snow cover combined with bright sun peaking from the sky. Scenery gave me a pause and I started reflecting on the year which has gone by. Undoubtedly it was a tough year. With everything that happened this year, it seems that it has diminished our own confidence in American exceptionalism. Are we still the hope of the world? Can the world look to us for leadership on major challenges of our time? Domestically can we tackle thorny issues of health care and unemployment?

I think on the international front, policies of the current administration are on the right track. We have adopted a "realist" foreign policy approach which takes into account the contraints in which we operate. We have been deliberate in our thinking and multilateral in our approach, almost exact opposite of the operating principles of the last administration.

On the domestic front, the administration has a mixed record in its first year. Fed and the Treasury get good grade for pulling us back from the financial abyss. It is easy in the hindsight to criticize the administration for bailing out banks and shoveling lot of money thru TARP. However it achieved its purpose. Our financial institutions survived and are healthy again. Now we should sit down and devise the kinds of financial regulations which will prevent us from being in the same situation again.

Another major initiative of the administration has been health care reform. Anybody who whole heartedly supports the bill or wholeheartedly opposes the bill, has really not understood the bill. I think it is a very difficult call. While there are a lot of good measures in the bill for health insurance reform, it does not do enough to bend the cost curve in the long run. David Brooks captures this difficult choice very well in his NYTimes article http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/18/opinion/18brooks.html

If I were a senator, I will vote for the bill giving the benefit of doubt to the current administration. President has shown in his major foreign policy initiative that he is very pragmatic and that gives me the confidence that he will take the issue of cost seriously and implement the provisions of the bill in a way to ultimately reduce the deficit.

All in all, a very tough year has gone by and coming year may not be any easier. However I think we will remain a force of good in the world, our strength will come from our ability to marshell the world opinion and not just thru our arms and our economy will turn around, though at a slower pace.

Happy Holidays and a very Happy New Year.