100 Days

Well, now Barack Obama is President Obama. No longer President-elect. No longer a transition to power. The oath of office has been taken (although stumbled), the speech has been made, the Inaugural Balls have been attended (all 10 of them), and now it's time to get to work. The history of the Presidency has shown a high interest in analyzing the first 100 days in office. At least since FDR, this has been done. It seems to be a barometer for how the remaining 3 years and 265 days will play out. This new President, while seemingly up for the challenge, has placed some big goals ahead of himself. To be sure, he takes over an office and an economy that has a black eye to say the least. Wall Street was not too enamoured with the Inauguration celebration yesterday, as the market sank over 300 points and the Dow stands at 7949 on President Obama's first full day in office. The futures are up this morning though, maybe the traders felt better after watching the video clips and news feeds on the progress the new President and First Lady were making on hitting all the balls (no pun intended) last night. The economy will be and should be job number one (after he gets the rest of his cabinet confirmed). He made note of where we stand in his inauguration speech when he said, "Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered." What the nation needs, Obama said, "is a new era of responsibility — a recognition on the part of every American that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly. ... This is the price and the promise of citizenship." So there it is. Time to get to work. Time to roll up our sleeves. Time to quit whining and get over it. Time to start saving more and spending less. I, like most all Americans am ready to see the economy pull out of this recession and the markets go from bear to bull. Let's hope Wall Street concurs, and corporate American will listen to new ideas and forget business as usual. People say they want change, and they are ready for change. Let's see what changes in the next 100 days. Let's see how long the honeymoon lasts.