Dear Readers:

Dear Readers:<br /> <br /> Let's review what to expect politically and fiscally in 2014. Politically, starting with President Obama, watch for him to do as much as he can through his legal prerogatives. This is because Republicans are likely to try to block much of what he wants to do. One is to order shorter campaign time for union elections. This gives employers less time to explain any faults in union plans. Union leaders are upset he hasn't done more. His successor nominee will need as many closed shop unions in as many states as possible.<br /> <br /> On the GOP side, there could be a number of presidential candidates in 2016. Virtually certain to run is New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. The traffic jam caused by virtually blocking access to the expressway apparently was done by a couple of his assistants without him knowing about it. Both Democrats and possible other Republican candidates already are pounding him. UNLESS provable evidence comes to light that he DID know about it, his goose is probably dead. I don't expect it but do expect to see him on the ballot. A solid majority of New Jersey's voters are Democrats and it says a lot about Christie's abilities that he has won two successive gubernatorial races in an overwhelmingly blue state.<br /> <br /> Christie will have plenty of heavyweight opposition in the GOP primary. Gov. Scott Walker is likely to run. He's got ability and a strong multi-state following. Nobody knows what Sen. Ted Cruz will do, but no one should be surprised if he jumped in the race. If he does, let's hope he has his thinking cap on, not his nutty (or dumb) cap on. I personally think it's a long shot, but it's possible former Florida governor Jeb Bush might run. He'd have the support of two family member former presidents, George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush. There're still others.<br /> <br /> Over on the Democratic side I think former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is about a 90 percent entrant. Vice President Joe Biden would be a formidable opponent. He probably would have outgoing President Obama on his team. Biden has done most of Obama's heavy lifting, mainly because Obama doesn't know how. He's out of his league as a president though voters elected him twice. His job approval rating now has plummeted to record lows. A large part of the plunge is the mandatory healthcare bill. Even California's Nancy Pelosi openly said on the floor that Congress needed to pass it "so we'd know what's in it." That's openly saying they didn't know or understand the faulty details. We elect legislators to know what they're doing before they do it. Even some of Georgia's Washington legislators went along without knowing what was in the bill. We should elect people who know what they're doing.<br /> <br /> Fiscally, the outlook seems to be improving in some areas, through very serious issues remain. Congress was able to reach a government funding agreement that will last the next two years, ending just before the next presidential election. No more government shutdowns (the Republicans suffered a big setback with that, even knowing there was no way they possibly could pass the blockage of Obamacare's implementation). A few of who I call the "GOP nut cases" are certain to still keep trying, just like Don Quixote dueling the windmills.<br /> <br /> If our national leaders (including our state's) are doing anything about the looming Social Security crisis, they're doing it in secret behind closed doors. I've written to congressional representatives and even President Obama telling them a PROVEN way to rescue and IMPROVE benefits for them and their descendants. It's been a year and I HAVE gotten several responses but have seen no action. If something's going on, it's behind closed doors -- possibly through necessity. Unless we act pretty soon, the Social Security Trust Fund will be bankrupt in about 13 years, unable to pay promised benefits.<br /> <br /> Other Obama shortcomings include the Syrian problem and letting Iran keep on building a nuclear bomb without us or our allies inspect the Uraniam facility. Let them get the device and they shoot it over into Israel, we're talking about another bloody war where we have to get involved. That's expensive and we need to be cutting the budget, not spectacularly increasing it.<br /> <br /> A new year is when we should be optimistic that things will improve. While I sense some things are going to improve, even if only slightly, but the major, most costly issues seem to be staying on for some time to come. We need to do better and to do it, we need to be careful with who we elect from local to national levels.<br /> <br /> For our country's and descendant's sake, we MUST do better. Let's get at it this election year.<br /> <br /> Ted Oglesby: [email protected], 536 Tommy Aaron Drive, Gainesville, Ga. Phone 770-534-4203. Bye for now. Ted. <br />

http://accesswdun.com/article/2014/1/270424