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Iraq: Withdrawal within 2 years, with many of these troops shifting to Afghanistan. We declare complete and total victory and move on.
Defense: One long-term new weapons program gets scuttled along with Star Wars as the Administration is forced to reallocate resources towards more basic procurement and readiness issues. Otherwise we'll just have some neat gizmos in the pipeline with no actual capacity to fight a war. Anyone who thinks we will be cutting defense spending in the near future after a withdrawal from Iraq is letting Rush do their thinking for them.
Health Care: Within the first 100 days, Congress passes an expansion of SCHIP that will cover just about every child. Next year, Congress tries to fix the outstanding problems left with the half-assed prescription drug benefits the GOP approved a few years back. They declare complete and total victory and leave the rest of the health care problem until the second term, when they hope to have more money to effect greater change.
Education: Modest revision of No Child Left Behind Act takes 2 more years, but leaves the testing regime fundamentally intact with more carrots and less stick. They declare complete and total victory and move on.
Energy: In addition to what has already been done, next year additional tax breaks and other federal incentives will be passed to encourage the development of alternative energy sources. Contrary to popular belief, the ban on offshore drilling in extremely sensitve areas will not be restored because they do not have the votes in Congress to sustain an effort by the President to renew it.
Foreign Policy: Our relationship with Russia worsens, more their fault than ours. We continue to favor the Israelis in pretty much everything, but gain enough credibility with the Palestinians and other actors in the region that we can attempt to broker negotiations, but success is very unpredictable. Talks with Iran are sluggish and ultimately produce little because the Russians and the Chinese screw us, just like they have been for years. Chavez loses some regional traction, discovering that Obama doesn't generate the same bad feelings that Bush did.
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