No one is more inspired than I at the spectacle of our vibrant, young president and his wonderful family on the world stage for the first time. And the significance of an African-American president visiting sub-Saharan Africa is almost beyond the joyful comprehension of an old guy who remembers drinking from "Whites Only" water fountains as a child.
But Barack Obama will soon be home, and he really must take off the gloves now if he hopes to achieve anything more than symbolism with his presidency. Mr. President, we need a plan!
(More below)
So far, our president seems content to nibble at the edges, fighting for incremental changes one at a time, an approach which simply exhausts his supporters and invigorates his (our) enemies.
Why not announce on Monday that the president will be making a major, primetime policy statement on a date certain that no American can afford to miss? Let the buzz and speculation build for a few days, and then leak that the president will announce a comprehensive plan in the tradition of the Fair and New Deals. Give it a snappy name - America Works, America Back to Work - or something along those lines. Release a one-page bulleted list the afternoon of the speech. Then give the speech of your life Mr. President, and insist that these things must be done now:
A medical service corps that pays for the education of doctors, practioners, nurses and techicians in exchange for three years of public service. In so doing we create the workforce (and a constituency) for a national health plan.
Reinstitute the Conservation Corps and update it to meet the new environmental and technical challenges of today.
Relief for debtors - student loans, mortgages, etc.
End Bush tax cuts and increase capital gains and inheritance taxes (capped at a high enough level so as not to affect small businesses and investors).
Closure of offshore tax shelters.
An outside review of all military expenditures.
Formation of a panel of constitutional scholars and historians to review the state of our domestic and international obligations under the law, particularly in terms of human rights and the "war" on drugs.
A $1500 check for every American making less that $70k a year, payable on November 15 of this year.
The bullet points can be changed, shifted, added to. My point is that the rethugs, blue dogs and their corporate masters would love to embroil the nation in one obstructionist "debate" after another. The incremental approach suits them just fine, because fiddling while the nation burns makes their constituencies a ton of money. This is your "Here I stand; I can do no other" moment, Mr. President.
This is it.