A Chequer-Board of Nights and Days

Richard Epstein, by virtue of being a law professor at the University of Chicago, has had ample time to interact with Barack Obama. But as Epstein points out, interacting with Barack Obama does not equate knowing what kind of President Obama would be. As Epstein writes, Obama's supporters praise the man . . . but are curiously silent when it comes to the programs Obama might pursue as President. While Obama admirers claim that their man is a pragmatist at heart and a University of Chicago Democrat who has a healthy appreciation for free markets, free trade and capitalism in general, Epstein points out that all of these claims are at variance with Obama's voting record.

Flushing out that voting record and its natural implications, Epstein draws what is likely a very accurate picture of what we might expect in an Obama Administration:

. . . Obama's vague calls for change that "you can believe in" are, to my thinking, wholly retrograde in their implications. At heart, he is an unreconstructed New Dealer who can see, and articulate, both sides on every question--but only as a prelude to championing the old corporatist agenda with a vengeance.

That program has three key components, which, taken together, can convert a shaky financial situation into a global depression. The first of these is his anti-free trade attitude that loomed so large in the primaries. But even Obama cannot repeal the principle of comparative advantage. Any efforts to scuttle NAFTA, deny fast-track approval to other agreements, or limit outsourcing will not be as dramatic as the Smoot-Hawley tariff. But combined, they would act as a depressant on general economic growth. Everyone would suffer.

Second, Obama is committed to strengthening unions by his endorsement of the Employer Free Choice Act, a misnamed statute that forces union recognition without elections and employment contracts through mandatory arbitration thereafter. That one-two punch could tie up the very small businesses that Obama seems determined to help. Tax relief won't work for firms that won't get formed because a labor fight is not in their initial budget.

And third, he is in favor of progressive individual taxes and high corporate taxes. It is as though the U.S. does not have to compete for labor and capital in global markets. My fear is that with his strong egalitarian bent, he has not internalized the lesson that high rates do not offset declining revenues.

Elections have consequences and the consequences of electing Obama will be a radical return to a Big Government approach to economic policy that will only serve to stifle markets, stifle innovation and in the process, stifle economic growth itself. Maybe it is time that more commentators do what Epstein has done: Go behind the man and look at the political platform being advocated. The more people do that, the less likely Barack Obama's antiquated thinking will stand up to a full and open examination.