I believe that Barack Obama's priorities should be the economy and the progress in Afghan. Economic- wise, Obama should increase employment and minimize foreclosure that is wrecking thousands of Americans nationwide. Personally, I think for Afghan - he's done the right thing with putting more troops in. Economically, the stimulus plan has good intentions, I just don't believe it is the right approach.
The US goal in the Middle East is to: 1) secure peace, 2) minimize extremism, and 3) protect Israel. The best US strategy in accomplishing this involves hard military force as well as a soft force (such as diplomacy, culture, negotiation, etc.) By using a balance of these two forces, the US can achieve stable democratic governments in Iraq and Afghan. This a) takes out two key bases from the Talibann/Al Qaeda, and b) weakens Iran's influence which in turn helps Israel. By helping Israel, peace can be maintained in the area and that is a goal the US should strive for.
Official photographic portrait of US President Bar...
English: United States President Barack Obama sign...
English: Cropped version of File:Official portrait...However, the economy is a more pressing issue. I think that in order to raise market confidence (meaning how confident investors are that buying shares will yield profits for them), should not be solved by a stimulus. Considering that the stock market went down by 100 points when the stimulus bill was passed, the solution is clear: 1) limit injection of funds to large (and thus important) but failing financial institutes, 2) reward success by establishing a public-private relationship that involves the government becoming a stronger OVERSEER but not a controller. So basically the government hands out contracts for big plans like investment in green tech, solving foreclosure etc. Finally3) Punish failure, without crushing the people who normally would be "successful" as in do not ease bankruptcy laws, but let people tap into limited unemployment...