This
cheat sheet will come in handy in case he wants to get back in touch with his
inner anti-war community organizer.
Most progressives aren’t exactly thrilled with
President Barack Obama’s track record so far. Sure, he came out in favor of gay
marriage, raised taxes on at least some of the richest Americans, made history
by being the first non-white man to occupy the White House, and called for
ending oil and gas subsidies.
In general, however, he riled the progressive
base instead of rallying it. Given that hardened conservatives continue to
accuse him of being a “communist” anyway, he might as well give a true
progressive agenda a shot. Chances of that may look slim in light of his corporate-sponsored inaugural festivities, but
he did get that memo about how he’s got to finally do something about guns.
Dear Mr. President,
You and I have never met even though I grew up
in Hyde Park and right-wingers keep
insisting that you’re heavily influenced by my organization. (Isn’t that kooky?
Look it up if you don’t believe me.) Anyway, I know you’re busy but in case
you’ve got a minute or two to spare, here are seven action items for your
consideration. I’ve tried to keep it short, but there are lots of hyperlinks
for you to explore.
Sincerely,
Emily Schwartz Greco
- Stop climate change. Surely you’ve noticed by now that the weather got pretty odd during your first term in office. After all, heavy winds are felling the White House’s stately Christmas trees and you wound up embraced by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (a potential GOP presidential contender) right before Election Day because of Superstorm Sandy’s devastation. Uttering the words “climate change” out loud is nice and all, but actions speak louder than words. The best way you can prove that you’re serious about climate change is to nix the Keystone XL pipeline. While you’re at it, bravely declare that fracking is environmentally devastating and do what you can to stop that scourge. Along with mountaintop removal mining. End your love affair with nuclear reactors and see if you can end our reliance on that dangerous source of power faster than Germany.
- Adopt a foreign policy that respects human rights. You can start by ending all forms of government-sponsored torture, which would require punishing U.S. officialswho have anything to do with it. No, making them the next CIA chief doesn’t count, as bad as things turned out for Gen. David Petraeus. And keep that promise you made four years ago and shut the Guantánamo prison. Oh, and by the way: One great way to respect human rights is to kick your nasty remote-controlled killing habit. Drone warfare won’t make the world a safer or better place.
- Embrace spending priorities that benefit the rest of us instead of rich folks and corporations. With private pensions becoming an endangered species, it’s time to strengthen Social Security rather than gutting it. You can do this and balance the budget at the same time if you get creative about new revenue sources, such as a Wall Street tax. And put the Pentagon on a diet. That’s what we’ve always done after wars wound down and supposedly we’re wrapping up operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
- End the wars on drugs and undocumented immigrants. Speaking of pointless and pricey wars that are finally winding down, why not admit that the Drug War isn’t working and never will? Make sure the good people of Washington State and Colorado get what they voted for when they passed marijuana-legalizing ballot measures last year. And go a step further and push for nationwide decriminalization of a drug that at least 100 million of us have tried, including, uh, you. Another thing that might help Latin Americans and Latinos, two of the communities that have suffered the most over the Drug War’s four decades, is a saner immigration policy. Yes, Latinos backed you over Romney, but they had to hold their noses because of those record deportation rates. See if you can do something at the federal level to update immigration laws that might stop the outbreak of oppressive legislation in states like Arizona and Alabama.
- Address America’s corrosive racial and class disparities, such as the racial wealth divide and the overly black and brown composition of ouroutrageously huge incarcerated population. The increasingly privatized prison-industrial complex isn’t good for anyone, especially undocumented immigrants, unless you think corporations are people. But if they were, you wouldn’t have gotten a second term, right?
- Help fix our broken food system. You could get started by getting Michelle to dump Beyoncé as one of the faces of the Let’s Move campaign now that she’s becoming the face of Pepsi. For a change, how about not letting every single application for an untested genetically engineered thing we eat or feed our animalsglide through the approval process? Use the power of your post to get the country toeat further down the food chain which would be great for our personal health and the entire planet by serving a vegan banquet at the next State Dinner. See if the Farm Bill could do less for corporate agribusiness and more to give the powerful local-food revolution even more momentum. Do something about factory egg and livestock farms.
- Take steps to alleviate our growing care crisis, not just for seniors and people with disabilities, but for workers who provide care. While it’s still mostly a below-the-radar challenge compared to everything else on this list, we’ve got to address the fact that the baby boomers are turning 65, there aren’t enough caregivers to allow them to stay home and live with dignity, and many of the workers who are providing their care are getting paid less than minimum wage and lack sufficient training. We’ll need at least 1.6 million new caregivers by 2020 and it won’t be easy to recruit them unless U.S. labor laws are updated. We don’t have enough geriatric doctors either. Experts predict that the number of seniors in the United States will nearly double by 2030. Sure, it’s possible that robots will solve this problem. Just like it’s possible that you’re going to take all my advice.
Emily Schwartz Greco
is the managing editor of OtherWords, a non-profit editorial service run
by the Institute for Policy Studies. OtherWords.org