Don't Blow It, Barack

America is going to have her first black (or African American, if you prefer) president. Given that only about 12% of America is black this means a lot of non-black people didn't seem to see President Elect Obama's skin color as a problem. For that I'm quite proud.

Mr. Obama is inheriting a high-risk recession that's been over 30 years in the making, starting with the Community Reinvestment Act passed by President Carter in the 1970s. I don't think there's much Obama can do to make it better, but there is a lot he can do to make it worse.

What worries me the most about this is that America's first black president might pull a Hoover/FDR and drive us into a brutal long-term depression. He could achieve this by implementing more government control over the free market (the same kind of control that caused this mess), raising taxes on the people that drive the economy, and putting protectionist trade barriers in place. And if America's first black president makes a mess into a disaster, I don't like the idea that some people might attribute this to the color of his skin instead of the wisdom (or lack thereof) of his policies.

So here's to Mr. Obama giving freedom a chance.