GOALS FOR OBAMA – A SCORE!
… We agree Barack Obama needs to score in his first few months in the White House – but with what?
… Here are a score of options for short-term priorities. Twenty is a score, a good arbitrary number.
1) Iraq – get out!
2) Afghanistan – get out, at least the combat troops.
3) Darfur.
4) Cuba – normalize relations.
5) Israel/Palestine – GAZA – a U.N. major presence to enforce a real cease-fire. Then a two-state solution, along the lines suggested by Americans for Peace Now.
6) Stop torture, stop genocide. (There’s a bipartisan plan with some of the authors on the transition team.)
7) Disarmament, starting with getting rid of our own excess nuclear weapons. (We have ten times enough to eliminate the entire human population. Is that necessary?)
Increase in the minimum wage, moving towards a living wage and broaden eligibility for unemployment compensation
9) Easier unionization.. (The Freedom of Choice Act is a likely start.)
10) Equal Pay for Comparable Work,
11) Comprehensive anti-discrimination laws, including sexual orientation and whistle-blowers.
12) A decent passenger rail system.
13) Federal funding for public transportation, including operating funds.
14) End involuntary homelessness.
15) Single Payer Health Care.
16) Renewable Energy.
17) Agriculture policies and programs focusing on food and small farms.
18) Immigration and immigrant rights policies.
19) Campaign finance reform, including funding.
20) Next steps on global warming.
… These possibilities are not in order, and some might be considered multiple goals.. No doubt your priority items would be different. Mine would probably be different if I did this next week. I didn’t even include some items important to me, even some items I have worked on. I didn’t include same sex marriage or even civil unions, broad clinic access, reform of the election structure, mental health, addiction programs, drug law reform, reform of the criminal “justice” “system,’ environmental anti-sprawl land use planning, lessening population growth, gun control, a non-violent peace-keeping force, Mass transit development, such as a downtown-Oakland line, an earnings policy – what’s “fair compensation,” Pakistan, Iran, sensible anti-terrorism. I could go on – so could you. Some of these items need more policy development, some need more public consensus, some might be items for Obama’s second term. For some items, the most we can hope for is a start, and maybe a general statement of policy.
… What I think these items have in common is that I think that they were all explicitly or implicitly included in Obama’s campaign. All could arguable be in a “top three” list. Most important, every one would require work BY US – publicizing, lobbying, consensus building, organizing.
… We can’t do everything at once. Which ones should be the top priorities? In many ways, it doesn’t matter.
… I‘d like to hear your views. Pick your favorites – and start organizing
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