Congratulations Mr Obama

I wish President-elect Obama all the luck in the world. Now that he has won the election, his optimism will likely be replaced by pragmatism. His idealism replaced by reality. Mr. Obama will have to work through a congress that is more conservative and more jaded. While he may actually not be a part of the establishment, he WILL have to work through the establishment.

I think that the ones who will be most disappointed are those who make less than $10,000 per family member. This includes the working poor and the perpetually unemployed. There is hope for an expansion of welfare and social spending. Perhaps there will be, but history tells us that the victims of regressive welfare programs just get worse not better. All the education spending in the world is not going to help adults who have little education and little aptitude to get more. While adult education does help emplace basic literacy, executive level education and opportunities are at least a generation away for these families. This is nearly as big a problem for middle class whites as for minorities. While there is a greater opportunity for middle class kids to achieve, their educational ceiling is rarely above the bachelorate level.