Lewis C. Miller

One of the most unfortunate consequences of the recent economic crisis that culminated in horrific fashion this week is the crippling blow that has been dealt to agenda of the next President.

When either Senator Obama or Senator McCain takes office in January, they will do so with an increasingly diminished ability to change the course of this country, a goal that a substantial majority of Americans believe is necessary. Before proceeding, I must confess that, like Senator McCain, I am not well versed in the intricate fundamentals of the economy (I do however acknowledge that those fundamentals have been exposed as deficient, unlike Senator McCain).

With that admission of naivety, I will not focus on whether or not the federal government’s recent bailout of major investment banks was an unfortunate but necessary step to prevent greater economic calamity. That is, to quote Senator Obama, “above my pay grade.”

I will instead focus on the cold, hard facts, which indeed grew steadily colder and harder to accept as the week progressed.

Although the exact cost of the federal government’s actions has yet to be calculated, and indeed such a calculation will likely not be determined for quite some time, recent estimates have the figure easily topping $1 trillion. Putting aside the partisan lens for a moment to simply contemplate the ramifications of that figure should precipitate quite an alarming reaction. And for a nation already consumed by massive debt, it is nearly paralyzing. To put the figure in a bit of context, most estimates place the accrued cost of the five-years-and-counting war in Iraq at less than $1 trillion. In less than one week, we’ve taken on an amount of debt greater than the (monetary) costs of that continuing foreign policy debacle.

Both Senator Obama and Senator McCain have extensive plans for what they would like to accomplish in their potential administrations. Those plans took a devastating blow this week. As a fervent advocate for universal health care who believed that this was finally the time we would see that idea become an actuality in this country, I am seeing that vision quickly fade to the far recesses of reality. Senator McCain has repeatedly stated that it would be his goal to build 45 new nuclear power plants in the United States by 2030. With a price tag of several billion dollars apiece, the realization of that goal is now in serious jeopardy.

Whichever candidate you support, you can be sure they are witnessing their inventory of ambitions erode into the shadows. In the past, I have occasionally been labeled, sometimes fairly, as being a bit too dramatic. I trust that we can all agree that this is not one of those times.

In conclusion, I have to say it’s almost inconceivable to think that much of the early part of this year was spent squabbling over whether our economy was in sufficiently dire shape to warrant labeling its condition as a “recession.” As we witness the largest federal intervention in the economy since the Great Depression unfold, the optimist in me hopes that we have learned to move beyond such petty quarrels. The pragmatist in me believes that we’re just getting started.