We need stop crying about the election and we need to end the political rhetoric. While Obama's election is certainly not a referendum on any topic, let's finally hold him accountable for his campaign promises.

President Obama claims to have a plan to create jobs and pay down the national deficit by investing (that is, spending) in lots of stuff, cutting spending, and asking the wealthy to pay a little bit more. Okay, Mr. President, it's time to see the specifics of your plan:

1. How much do you want to raise taxes and on whom? Income, capital gains, or both?

2. How much additional revenue do you and your experts predict the increased tax rates will raise, and what are your assumptions? For example, are you assuming people will invest the same amount with higher capital gains tax rates?

3. According to your experts, will raising taxes increase or decrease the amount of private capital in the economy? How will this affect the number of private sector jobs? Is the increase/decrease in employment (and the associated tax implications) reflected in #2, above?

4. Assuming you are predicting an increase in tax revenue, how are you going to spend the additional revenue? Your latest jobs plan consists of investing (spending) in many things. Will we have the revenue for both the additional "investing" and reducing the national debt?

5. What are your specific spending cuts?

Everyone needs to start demanding to see the specifics of the president's plan. I don't care about George W. Bush, William Clinton, their tax rates and what they did to the economy. I don't want to hear rhetoric about top-down or middle-out economic theories, and I don't need to hear the same speeches (literally) that's he's read for the past five years. We all complained about Obama not having a real plan for the past five years, but we never demanded to see a real plan. I want to see the specific plan.

Instead of changing the party's platform, or caving in to liberal tax increases or immigration amnesty, we should say this: Mr. President, if this election was truly a referendum on your policies and promises, then you owe the people of this great nation what they voted for. If raising taxes on the rich combined with spending cuts will create private sector jobs, increase revenue, and reduce the national debt, show us the economic plan with all the details and show us how it will work. It's time to be honest with the people who voted for you and are counting on you.

Demand to see the plan, not the speech that talks about having a plan. After all, this is his legacy. He'll either be the president that brought us back from the worst recession since the Great Depression or he'll replace Jimmy Carter as the worst president ever.

Jim Curran is a Civil Engineer living in Hockessin, Delaware. Contact by email: jlcurran@comcast.net