Priorities--From the Start

Jon Stewart asked Barack Obama just before the election whether he was sure he really wanted the job. Certainly things in America and the world have rapidly changed since Obama first stood on the steps of the Illinois State House in Springfield and announced his candidacy almost two years ago. And as we get closer to Inauguration Day, the Bush administration seems to be going a little wacko again: bombing civilians in Afghanistan, bombing into Pakistan, and getting too close to the borders with Syria for the health of the planet.

With just 76 days left, the Bush administration is capable of doing anything.

What should the new president's priorities be? We have millions more Americans about to be thrown out of their homes in foreclosure; we have a planet that is rapidly warming and disappearing resources, drinking water, and fossil fuels; we have an economy that has collapsed from deregulation, greed, and mismanagement; we have an educational system that is no longer serving the interests of either the families whose children attend, the teachers who earn a livelihood, or the nation which needs an educated workforce; our infrastructure of roads and bridges is deteriorating; our health care system is bankrupting families and small businesses while not making modern medicine accessible to the people who really need it; and our voting system is so flawed that it is inevitable to have another hanging chad, contested election like we had in Florida in 2000.

We can no longer afford to engage in an arms race, especially since the arms race is with Russia once again and China whose might we haven't even imagined as its economy expands. I often think about Star Wars and how the Rebellion beat the evil Empire despite its Death Star with small, targeted strikes. That is how our new renegade enemies will keep us alert, but the new president hopefully will not use fear as Bush and Cheney did.

Then there is the little matter of prosecuting the officials in the Bush administration responsible for the war on terror that includes such techniques as torture, rendition, and illegal surveillance. In the documentary "Boogie Man" about Lee Atwater, it is suggested that if Bill Clinton had prosecuted the Bush I administration for its role in Iran Contra, the architects of the Bush II administration would all have been in jail or disgraced. We might have avoided the last eight years.

We can't wait for President Obama to set his priorities. We have to set our own in our own communities. We saw a network of coalitions working together on the ground to elect this intelligent and composed man. We met neighbors and made new friends. We reached across labels. So why don't we start at home?

Why don't we start now?