Obama the "Man of the Year"—for Free Marketeers

The Cato Institute's Dan Mitchell points to the Libertarian Party's tongue-in-cheek designation of President Obama as its "Man of the Year" to support his contention that the free-market movement needed to take one step back in 2008 in order to take two steps forward.

Mitchell first notes that Senator McCain would not have implemented a free-market agenda:

McCain’s healthcare plan also was bad, and surely would have become even worse as it meandered through a legislative process controlled by Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi. Moreover, cap-n-trade and a value-added tax would have been much more likely under a McCain Administration. . . . In short, a McCain victory would have meant continued growth of government with no prospect of a conservative/libertarian renewal. Obama’s victory has been giving us bad policy, of course, but at least there’s now a backlash for freedom.

Mitchell then proceeds to argue that President Obama's statist policies have spurred a "renaissance" in the free-market movement. He also points out that the 1976 Carter and 1992 Clinton victories resulted in the 1980 Reagan and 1994 Republican Congressional victories.

Hopefully the 2008 Obama victory will result in similar Republican revolutions—and the Republicans will implement a solid free-market agenda.