in the middle of the night

President-elect Barack Obama has won praise for his economic and national security teams – both indications, some would argue, of an intent to govern from the center and with continuity during a time of war and economic crisis.

But now the new administration’s true color (green) is showing brightly in the naming of the energy and healthcare teams. Mr. Obama is smart, smooth and pragmatic. But he is not likely to let a little recession and financial crisis get in the way of his big plans.

Americans rarely accept big changes except during a crisis, and some have argued that the current crisis might actually make it easier to make big changes in areas such as business regulation, energy, and healthcare.

Some elephants stand in the way of rapid, large-scale change.

Healthcare – activists like to point to the insurance companies and the drug companies as the bad guys, but the real conflict will come between the already squeezed healthcare provider community (doctors and hospitals) and those seeking to contain costs (squeeze the docs some more) and those seeking to improve healthcare for the uninsured (squeeze the docs even more).

Affordable, universal healthcare and reducing healthcare costs are in direct conflict. They are in fact mutually exclusive without rationing. And rationing is the big elephant in the room which no one is talking about.

Read – Why Americans pay more for healthcare

Energy – the rapid decline in the price of oil has let much of the air out of this balloon. Yes, we need to find new sources of energy and reduce our reliance on foreign oil. Neither of those are likely to happen quickly with oil at less than $50 per barrel.

Wind and solar power were not economical without government subsidies with oil over $100 a barrel. How will that work at $50? Energy sensitivity only works in Europe because gasoline costs $9 a gallon. And no one is suggesting that Americans would tolerate a gas tax of even $1 or $2 dollars per gallon let alone $7.

The climate change and energy policy changes demanded by progressives could only happen quickly if Americans were willing to dial back their standard of living significantly – another big elephant in the room.