Mr. President, congratulations. Be you Mr. Obama, Mr. Romney or even as of this writing undetermined, you have a busy and difficult term to look forward to.
This will not be an average presidency, and the choices you make over the next four years will have great influence on the trajectory of this country for many more to come. The economy dominated discussions on the campaign trail, and rightly so. However, in focusing so much on the statistics of GDP growth and unemployment rate, I fear that many have lost focus on the fact that we do not exist to serve “the economy,” but rather the economy exists to serve us. In speeding up our economic recovery, we urge you as president to work not only to reduce the official unemployment rate but also to serve the underemployed, those too discouraged to look for work, victims of pay discrimination and all others who are lost in the statistics.
You must also work to reform our system to prevent a repeat of this Great Recession. The Dodd-Frank reforms are welcome but insufficient. I urge you to revitalize the financial protections that have been continuously dismantled since the 1980s and bring them up to date with our financial system.The level of poverty we tolerate in a nation as wealthy as ours is morally repugnant. Amid the fervor for debt reduction, I urge you to acknowledge our problems of poverty and work to improve rather than dismantle our social safety net. Economic strife in Europe may caution against building up debt, but it cautions even more strongly against austerity. Relatedly, I urge you to face rising income inequality head on, as this is not only a moral issue but a threat to our financial stability as well.
In focusing on furthering the well-being of all people, you must not forget the varied struggles of smaller groups. Progress on LGBT issues, discrimination as well as marriage, must continue. You must also face the issue of climate change. The era of denial must end. Hurricane Sandy and the recent drought are wake up calls to the immediacy of this problem. I applaud recent actions such as new fuel efficiency standards and coal plant regulations. However, whether through a tax and dividend system, cap and trade, direct regulation or some other means, I urge you to take bold action domestically. Additionally, I urge you to be a leader rather than a reluctant follower in creating the international coalitions necessary to address this global problem on a global scale.
On the global stage in general, we urge you to continue the current administration’s general shift toward diplomacy. We must not go to war with Iran. The Middle East does not need another war and neither do Americans. More than a decade after 9/11, I also urge you also to re-examine the morality, legality and effectiveness of the drone-strike program. More broadly, I call on you to heed former president Dwight Eisenhower’s prescient warnings about the danger of the military industrial complex to the maintenance of democracy, especially in an era of deficits. On top of these challenges of policy, you face the equally important task of restoring our institutions of government. Following arguably the most expensive political campaign in history, with endless attack ads fueled in large part by shadowy contributions by the superrich, you cannot be unaware of the corrosive nature that money has on politics. I urge you to work against the Citizens United decision in your appointments to the Supreme Court and to pursue greater campaign finance reform after that decision is overturned.
The functioning of our government must also be restored. The current administration’s focus on dialogue should continue. However, I also urge you articulate a clear political vision — either on the left or in the center — to restore balance to a Congress dominated by the far-right tilt of Tea Party-style Republicans.
Mr. President, you face the difficult challenge of taking immediate and bold action on many issues and at the same time working to restore some degree of sanity and order to politics. I hope you’re up to it. Good luck!
Woody Little is a member of Cal Berkeley Democrats.
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“The level of poverty we tolerate in a nation as wealthy as ours is morally repugnant.”
Most of those poor are immigrants, including a couple million illegal Mexicans. How about fighting poverty by enforcing our immigration laws? Or will that cut too much into the Democrat Party voter base?
“In focusing on furthering the well-being of all people, you must not
forget the varied struggles of smaller groups. Progress on LGBT issues,
discrimination as well as marriage, must continue.”
Yep, the burning issues of the day. Making gay people feel good about themselves comes before the economic well-being of the country.
“Focus less on speeding economy up and more on serving underemployed”
How do you help the underemployed without improving the economy?
Or is your whole goal to wreck the economy to punish the productive people who aren’t sharecroppers on the Democrat plantation?
“…but rather the economy exists to serve us.”
That’s the whole problem with Democrats. They feel entitled to the rewards of the economy no matter what. The wealth generated by others exists solely to serve them. It’s not surprising that Democrats attract more votes because they promise something for nothing.