The President from Illinois

I've been reading "Team of Rivals" by Doris Kearns Goodwin for what seems like an eternity now. It's a fascinating book but I just never seem to get time to just sit down and read it. The book, as any good US political book must do, has expertly linked itself to President Obama (it's apparantly one of his favourites). But this isn't just a tenuous link: the similarities between Obama and Lincoln are startling. Both came from humble backgrounds, both lawyers from Illinois and both were outsiders for the presidency knowm for their bipartisanship. But this is all old-hat, we all know the similarities - what is more interesting is how they reacted to the age in which they led their country.

Lincoln was known for sticking to his principles: when he made a decision he stuck to it and followed through. When things got tough, when is country looked on the brink of collapse, he stuck to his principles and worked tirelessly to carry out what was necessary. On watching Obama's first State of the Union address it is clear that Obama is a man cut from the same cloth. Rather than turning right following Republican victories in Virginia and Massachusetts, he has stuck to what he pledged and challenged his party to finish the work that they began.

One shining example of this is his pledge to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", the policy that effectively excludes gays from serving in the US armed forces. He promised to do this during the election but many had begun to doubt his conviction, having done little to do this. However, on Tuesday the Defense Secretary will present to Congress some of the first steps that will be taken to get rid of this discredited policy. For a nation known for its patriotism to exclude over 13,000 men and women from the armed forces in which they are proud to serve, is inexcusable.

The funny things is, i've not long read the chapter in my book about the Emancipation Proclamation and Lincoln giving black men the right to fight alongside their countrymen. The same arguments that are used against allowing gays to serve were used to prevent black soldiers serving. They were wrong then and they are wrong now. Obama must follow through on this pledge regardless of the obstacles and prejudice that may step in his way.

Getting by on High Caffeine Energy Drinks

I'm tired. I mean really fatigued, mentally and physically. I work for a large retail company and we are now coming to the end of this years January sale and I'm tired and I think the public are tired to. Today the UK economy begins to wake up from recession but is it really morning in Britain or is the country still half-asleep and running on high caffeine energy drinks like I am?

From what I have seen in the bleary eyes of customers and staff over the past month, in my shop and others I would say this is true. It has now been a year since the height of the "credit crunch" when household names like Woolworths and MFI collapsed, when consumer confidence was at it's lowest and the outlook bleak. Businesses responded by constant sales, heavy discounting and slashing running costs. Far from raising consumer confidence, it appears that it has just worn customers down, entrenching their cost-cutting, save now spend later attitudes. We may yet see more retailers go to the wall if customers continue to stay at home, themselves worried about job security. Growth of 0.1% does not mean we are moving out of this mess: it only means we are standing still. This is clearly an improvement but we are a long way off recovery.

This position has been achieved partly by the government's injection of "energy drinks" into the economy - cutting VAT, increasing/accelerating spending in some areas, plowing money into failing banks. But is this enough to sustain long term recovery? According to the Scottish Government, Scotland is fairing slightly better than the rest of the UK. But on both sides of the border so much more can be done. The Scottish Government possibly shouldn't have scrapped the Glasgow Airport Rail Link and it could have been wrong to oppose the Edinburgh tram project. For it's part, the UK Government's denial of acccerated funding for capital projects in Scotland hasn't helped. Furthermore, both governments may have missed the opportunity to improve the environment while encouraging growth. The Scottish Green Party's call for increased funding for a home insulation scheme during last years budget negotiations is just one: the benefits of such a scheme are immense. It increases sales for retailers and manufacturers, it saves consumers money on heating bills giving them more disposable income and helps us meet challenging climate change targets. I for one hope the Greens continue to call for this during this years budget negotiations. This is only one opportunity of many in this exciting and growing sector of the economy. The government may be to focused thus far on saving the economy as it is at the expense of growing new industry.

Whether the UK Government can do this remains to be seen. It's tired to. After 13 years in government it just can't sustain the momentum for action it once had. It's ran out of the big ideas that catapulted it had in 1997, it no longer has the fresh faces at the helm full of energy and optimism. David Cameron and the Tories seem to have this energy but whether they have the right ideas to lead the country out of recession remains to be seen. On May 6th (as "Bumbling" Bob Ainsworth reliably informs us) the country will make up its mind. The most exciting thing about the election is that whatever the result is we know its going to be a hugely different Parliament with about a quarter of current MPs not standing for reelection for whatever reason.

Lets hope this gives the country the real boost it needs. The fresh faces, ideas and optimism (and possibly "the Wings?") it needs to wake itself out of this long and tiring recession.