Roll Up the Sleeves

Today is the first day of President Barack Obama.  And while we celebrated yesterday, today is a day to get to work.

There was a fascinating article in Politico today, seven reasons to be healthily skeptical of this new President.  I think it is a good read and especially highlight the concerns about the lack of media oversight.  

Here is my list of priorities for Obama's first few months:

• The economy:  It seems to me while the federal government can not get the "fix" in place and cranking, it can outline, as soon as possible, exactly how it views the various proposals creating a healthy economy.  Much of the talk in Washington, DC is about the stimulus package, which mostly consists of tax credits and some modest infrastructure funding (not as much as every Tom, Dick, and Harry governor and mayor had hoped).  But the stimulus package, alone, will not "fix" our economic ruins.  We should also be hearing about re-aligning the banking industry, new standards on securities markets and securities issues, some form of taxation on excessive compensation packages to deter corporate leadership from managing their institution for short term gain only, a road map for reigning in health care costs as well as providing affordable care for 100% of Americans, and a plan for housing, employment, and affordable higher education.  Without looking at the economy holistically, all the policy makers will be doing is treating symptoms not the illness.
• War: Personally, I think it is unrealistic to bring the troops home from Iraq immediately.  Apparently President Obama is now looking to withdraw troops over the next 16 months.  Just trying to get material and people back to Kuwait for shipping will require some savvy logistical thinking (good thing that is what the military is good at...think Normandy).  On the other hand, Afghanistan seems to be the focus of much attention after being neglected during Iraq.  My fear is that we will become Afghanistan's next USSR.  As I understood our mission, we entered Afghanistan looking for al Qaeda, particularly the leadership responsible for recruiting, training, financing, and plotting the attacks on September 11, 2001.  Hopefully we will become more focused on that mission.  The President has already made steps to bring the United States back in line with international conventions on torture, and I applaud him for those choices.
• The Middle East: It goes without saying that the wars and relations in the Middle East are linked.  While it appears the Israeli attacks on the Gaza have stopped for the time being, truly it seems that each Administration inherits an even greater mess with even more barriers erected to finding a peaceful solution to Israel's sovereignty, Palestinian homelands, and Israel's relations with other Arab nations.  It's a priority only because it affects our interactions with other countries in the Middle East, as well, these days, with other Muslim countries.  
• Global Climate Change: I put this here because if I said the environment eyes would glaze over.  Global warming and global climate change have become the current jargon for talking about the environment.  But in reality, another way of looking at this issue is through economics.  How do we provide for people without trashing the Earth?  Thinking about the economy is holistic terms also means thinking about how we treat our land, water, vegetation, wildlife.  Which isn't to say we stop logging or mining, but how can we do these things in ways that we are not exporting our problems, providing jobs, and sustaining the natural world?  It's probably, to be frank, one of the easier problems for President Obama.  On the other hand, we have some tricky international issues regarding ocean based fisheries, where massive industrial fishing fleets have contributed to depletions of whole fishing stocks.  Many of those fish are just offshore of our boundaries.  
• The pup:  Ok, you made a promise to your daughters, Mr. President.  Get the puppy.  Your goal here is to fulfill a promise to your children, not please various interest groups who expect you to do what is politically correct.  And if you thought dancing late at inaugural balls was tough, wait until the puppy needs to hit the Rose Garden at 2:30 AM!