Obama Moves Toward Sweeping Ideological Change

President Barack Obama's plan to use the government to jolt the faltering U.S. economy back to life signals the most significant ideological shift in Washington since President Ronald Reagan came to power in 1981.

Candidate Obama promised sweeping change during last year's presidential election, and the scope of that change was on full display in President Obama's recently released 10-year budget plan.

In it, Mr. Obama pledged massive government spending, increased taxes on corporations and the wealthy and large budget deficits.

The president says the economy has grown so weak that only the government can provide the spark to bring it back to life.

"At this particular moment, with the private sector so weakened by this recession, the federal government is the only entity left with the resources to jolt our economy back into life," he said.

At the same time, President Obama has promised to tackle a number of difficult long- term challenges facing the country, like expanding health care coverage while trying to contain its growing cost, make the U.S. more energy independent and reform education.

It seems like a lot to do all at once, says Fred Barnes, editor of the conservative Weekly Standard.

But Barnes told VOA's Issues in the News program that the president is right to make an early push for his entire agenda.

"There has been a debate on what strategy to follow, and he is following the one that says we are going to do everything at once rather than doing things one at a time, say with taxes or health care, the environmental agenda or whatever," said Barnes.

Barnes is quick to add that he thinks the Obama agenda is too liberal and may be picked apart by opposition Republicans in Congress.

Conservatives are already mobilizing against the Obama budget plan, including talk show host Rush Limbaugh.

Limbaugh recently whipped an audience of conservative activists into a frenzy in Washington with a no-holds barred critique of President Obama.

"What is so strange about being honest and saying I want Barack Obama to fail if his mission is to restructure and reform this country so that capitalism and individual liberty are not its foundation? Why would I want that to succeed," asked Limbaugh.

Even if only portions of the Obama agenda are enacted into law by Congress, it would represent the most sweeping ideological change since conservative Ronald Reagan's emphasis on tax cuts and domestic spending cuts in the early 1980s.