Still, what Friedman overlooks is that 'action' is a two-edge sword, and in this case the U.S.'s infrastructure building will require some pruning, too.

President Obama has already indicated that his administration will conduct a line-by-line review of the federal budget, and call for cuts and/or the elimination of programs that don't work, are redundant, or useless. A Washington source of yours truly estimates that, if the above is the case, "about $200 billion in waste and useless programs could be cut from the budget, including as much as $50 billion from the defense budget," without any taxpayer noticing a difference in services, and without jeopardizing our nation's defense.

Moreover, at a time when federal dollars are needed for various other needs -- economic stimulus and financial system stabilization being among them -- it behooves the Obama administration to get rid of those programs that don't work or that are simply wasting money. Put another way, just think of how many infrastructure programs could be funded with that 'found' $200 billion in savings? Or how many investment tax credits it could pay for, to further stimulate the economy? Or begin to pay down the nation debt, in the (rare) event the economy starts to turn around by mid-2009?

In light of the above, Obama's best nation building tool may be his budget pruning device.

Fiscal Policy / Economic Analysis: To date, Obama has been consistent and clear regarding the need for shared sacrifice to achieve the common good. With that as a backdrop, just as President Eisenhower cut unneeded and ineffective defense programs, President Obama has to cut unneeded and ineffective social programs. The first proof of which will be his upcoming proposed federal budget. Stay tuned.