Drawn Inexorably to the Light

Two children drawn to the light of a clearing express the sentiment that children are drawn to light and truth. It is only when we have allowed the cynicism of time erode this that we lose that spark of childhood.



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Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (Now) ?

Lee Stranahan was right in his first rate piece in the Huffington Post citing Obama's contention that our politics are too small for our problems. Like Stranahan, I think Warren is dead wrong, (See:Is it Time to Remove the Legal Rights of Marriage? ) . I also think that we need to show that we are bigger than they are when it comes to this and other issues for two important reasons: 1. Because it is the right thing to do; and 2. Because it will help us to build a mighty wave of public support to sweep away this wall of oppression.

It is time for the gay community to change its mindset. They must begin to see themselves, not as victims, but as winners, in control of their own destiny. We have won the election, and we have lost an early skirmish (Prop 8) in the on-going battle.

More important, at Barack Obama's new American table, the gay community is already seated. It is not standing at the door waiting to be invited in. Quite the opposite.

With the Warren invitation, Obama has invited the Evangelicals to dine at that great American table of diversity as well. This will be a test of their ability to move toward a more tolerant world view. Rick Warren can start by toning down his own rhetoric.

Those of us who support equal rights for all Americans need to set an example. We need to embrace the "Big Politics" that Obama has called for. We need to offer a vision and an openess that is better than the example that the evangelical community has provided. If we set that example, the America people will come to our position, just as surely as they did during the past election.

We need to open our arms to them, invite them to join us at the table . . . and invite them to ask of themselves . . . what would Jesus do?

"Leap of Faith"


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Rick Warren Praises Obama's "Courage" For Taking "Enormous Heat From His Base"

I feel the depth of disappointment from the gay community on this. However, it comes from a place that - understandably - the community has to leave behind, victimhood. The gay community is so use to being the victim that it is hard even for them to see themselves in a different way.



At Barack Obama's new American table, the gay community is already seated. With the Warren invitation, Obama has invited the Evangelicals to dine at that great American table of diversity as well. This will be a test of their ability to move toward a more tolerant world view. Rick Warren can start by toning down his own rhetoric.



Those of us who support equal rights for all Americans need to set an example that is better than they have offered and invite them to ask of themselves . . . what would Jesus do?
About President Obama
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Quote of the Day

"I've abandoned free-market principles to save the free-market system."

George Bush
Washington, D.C., Dec. 16, 2008

Face Transplant a "Teachable Moment" on Bio-Ethical Issues

At the top of today's news is the first ever face transplant. It is a "teachable moment" on the issue of medical and technology ethics like few others and should precipitate a national dialogue.

Why is it such a seminal moment? Because, while the surgery itself is no more of a breakthrough than hundreds that have come before it, enhancing the quality of life, it is one with which every single person can readily identify.

How would I feel if my face were used on someone else? Does my organ transplant donor card include this? Do I need to take some action to stipulate my desires?

Years ago, I read a piece written by a futurist who postulated that we would be able to do head transplants within 25 years. I used it as a teaching tool when discussing medical ethics with my "Contemporary Issues" students. It never failed to generate a heated, yet thoughtful, discussion. This transplant of a face is not so powerful as to harness the deceased person's thoughts, but, on the gut-level, it comes pretty close.

While the president-elect has more than enough on his plate, let's hope that as he makes appointments that enter into this realm, he will be wise enough to appoint people who will engage the American people in a national discussion of these intense and immense issues of bio-ethics.

The Monarch



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Obama Building a Radical Centrist Coalition

I'm not much of a basketball fan myself, so you'll have to forgive me for seizing on the President-Elect's favorite sport when I know so little about it, but it is a more apt analogy than any other - so get over it.

The carping from the left and right about Obama's appointments to his upper level cabinet positions demonstrates that they failed to understand what Obama had been saying all along, in his book "the Audacity of Hope" and during his campaign. For those of us who supported Obama from the beginning we understood that his was a philosophy that could only be described as radical centrism. Disillusioned with the status quo, as represented by either end of the political spectrum; and wanting to build a governing coalition capable of (here comes the basketball allusion folks) breaking either way on the basis of what works and what creates synergies with other dynamic needs within our society and internationally, Obama has set a course for real change.

For those on the left who complain that change for them meant that Obama would appoint a cabinet and govern to the left of the Clinton administration, I have two words: "louder please". As an unabashed progressive myself, I nonetheless see the gains achieved when other progressives start to whine. Their disappointment is actually an asset to Obama as he works to build a centrist coalition. Nowhere is this more clearly demonstrated than in the approval polls which show Obama with a higher approval rating than any president-elect in recent history.

As for the folks on the right, well, lets just say that the Lemmings, led by Senator Richard "Dr. No" Selby are doing a very good job of setting up the bookends on their side of the shelf.

Obama, to his great credit, has not waivered in his resolve to create a team that will enhance his ability to govern. Just as he ran a campaign focused on not undermining his ability to govern once he won, so too have his appointments positioned him to walk into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue without the baggage of yielding to interest group politics on the left or right.

Jim Hightower likes to say that there is nothing in the middle of the road but yellow lines and dead armadillos. No more. Barack Obama may be on the verge of creating a dynamic new centrism drawing on the examples of Lincoln, Roosevelt, Cosby and maybe even Nixon in China. He'll have a lot of latitude, given the times. It's a great time to be alive if you want to see history being made.

"Amsterdam Bikes"


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Speaking Truth to Power Honored with Shinseki Choice

Barack Obama has sent a clear and compelling message to the military establishment with the choice of Eric Shinseki as the Secretary of Veteran's Affairs: That speaking truth to power is the honorable path even when there is a price to be paid. Further, that it need not mean the end of a distinguished career - at least not when your commander in chief really does care what you have to say. In doing so he has honored not only Shinseki's service but the service of every veteran of military service.

This choice bodes well for the country's veterans who for far too long have gotten lip service from a string of politicians who use them for political gain only to discard them when it comes time to actually provide support and services when they return home.

Solar Schools Initiative

An initiative to put collectors on schools would pay huge dividends within the context of a national economic stimulus package.

This blog entry is the first in a series of suggestions for green initiatives that would meet the five criteria outlined in the piece entitled “Hastening the Green Revolution with the Stimulus Package, published on my blog: Unified Visions. UnifiedVisions.blogspot.com”

During the campaign, Senator Obama stressed the need for improving the quality of education in America. Educational reform is a critically needed national imperative within the tapestry of reforms necessary to create a vibrant 21st Century economy. It is also a subject that calls for a broad analysis across the spectrum of issues, from class size to teacher training and standards as well as the general educational infrastructure. One thing is certain – it will not come easily or cheaply.

This is not a piece about educational reform – but it does hold the seeds for freeing the financial capabilities of communities to pay for reforms. It is a suggestion for an initiative that will help to stabilize long-term energy costs for schools. In keeping with the five criteria outlined in the original article, it also contains synergies that will quickly create job opportunities, minimize the need for future power plant production, increase the availability of renewable energy to the national grid and make America more secure in the process.

The stimulus package could include a Solar Schools initiative to place solar panels on schools all across the country in partnership with local renewable energy businesses, local governments and perhaps even local utility companies.

One of the great challenges to moving toward a future where solar energy plays a significant role in our national energy portfolio is the placement of panels. Already the battles over using raw land for solar collection are taking place around the country. At the same time, a group of innovative utilities and entrepreneurs are beginning to explore the idea of using the rooftops of large buildings already built. Likewise, the roofs of schools all over America represent an untapped resource for the generation of solar energy.

With a little bit of critical thinking, the Obama team could come up with an innovative plan for using school rooftops for solar collection while reducing the overall long-term electric bills of schools, enhancing the alternative energy portfolio of local utility companies and generating savings to property taxpayers that would open up opportunities for property tax relief, enhanced educational opportunity in the local schools or some combination of both.

Local businesses could be tapped to do the installation, thus generating jobs locally and helping these businesses struggling to hold on in tough economic times.

How do we make this happen fast? We tap into the vast well of community organizations working on sustainability issues throughout the country. By challenging them to work with local communities and schools as well as utility companies and private businesses, within 30 days we could have more good solid well thought out proposals than we could possibly fund. These groups have been operating on a shoestring already and no one knows better how to leverage community and financial resources to get the job done. By creating a additional incentive for proposals that included partial or full payback of the initial investment it would be possible to actually create opportunities for reimbursing taxpayers for the cost – or creating a local revolving fund to stimulate additional projects as repayment happens.

Even if time and the urgency of the moment required that we simply spend the funds with no recapture provisions, the gains made across the country would be well worth the investment.

Hastening the Green Revolution with the Stimulus

Obama can assure his future and get the country back on track at the same time by seeing green.


President Elect Obama faces a daunting challenge in reviving our economy. The full measure of his success will be not the support he has up front but both the success and his support level as we emerge at the other end of the recession.

If we go on a national spending spree simply to stimulate short-term employment, the end result will be an American public with a fiscal hangover and a staggering debt, looking for someone to blame and likely to hold the Obama administration responsible for creation of debt built on spending instead of investment.

I am personally confident that the President-Elect understands this, but it is worth repeating over and over again lest the profligate spenders see this crisis as the opportunity to spend on projects with no long-term gain for the country.

Lets face it, getting a stimulus package passed will not be the hard part. Obama is likely to get a lot of latitude from the American people, as well as the Democrats and moderate Republicans in Congress. As difficult as this may be – it really is the easy part.

However, with some smart ideas and careful positioning Obama can dig deep into the more conservative factions of the Republican Congressional delegation as well. He can do this by focusing on investments that have long term implications and seed revolutionary change at the same time. He can do it by developing proposals that political self interest will compel even conservatives to support. By appealing to their patriotism; their market oriented and investment-minded inclinations; and, their electoral self interest, President Obama can turn the economy around, usher in a new green era based on renewable energy sources and inoculate himself against the charges of being a mindless spender in the process.

Over the next few weeks we will propose a number of ideas that can help make this happen.

Any discussion of a stimulus package to bring the nation out of this deep recession will have to take a myriad of factors (and actors) into account. Most important among them:

1. The Need for Speed:

In order for a stimulus to be effective if must proceed with “all due haste”. We can’t afford to waste a moment. History has shown us that Roosevelt’s caution in acting on the economic crisis that we now know as the great depression may have prolongued that recession by years. In fairness the presidential handover in that time was later in the year and thus nearly 3 more months of transition added to that delay, but historians and economists are generally agreed that this delay exacerbated the Depression’s depth and length. Obama has clearly demonstrated that he understands this and as much as he would deny it, Obama is acting as defacto President in may respects already, particularly when it comes to using the “Bully Pulpit” of the office to calm the nation and to focus our energy and understanding.

The need for speed will mean that general public works projects will need to focus on those that are “shovel ready”. In other words, those projects that have all the necessary environmental, legislative, federal and state approvals. In his remarks before the Governor’s recently, the President Elect showed that he understood this. More important, in later remarks he demonstrated that he would take a no-nonsense “use it or loose it” approach to assure that Governor’s looking to nab federal funds won’t overstate their readiness without consequence.

2. Investment Not Spending:

Both simple mindless spending and carefully crafted investments will generate jobs in the short run, but spending that does not have a long term benefit that qualifies it as investment in the future will run out of steam fairly quickly – perhaps before the nation emerges from the recession. The Bush approach of sending checks to taxpayer just won’t do the trick. Our nation’s resources need to be consolidated and invested.

3. Moving the Nation Toward Energy Independence

Given the very short attention span of politicians and the American people in general, historians will look back at the dramatic rise in the cost of energy in late 2007 and early 2008 as a Godsend that focused the nations attention on our greatest long term threat to peace, security and economic stability. Furthermore, recent declines in these costs have eased the pain as winter approaches another fortunately timed, but we must not allow ourselves to become complacent. Where ever possible the components of the stimulus must take into account the need to quickly move the nation toward energy independence.

Additionally, investment that focuses on creation of energy independence will bolster both small and large businesses that offer green technology and renewable energy options at a time when the lack of private investment threatens their short term viability.

4. Creating Synergies with other National Imperatives

Other national imperatives like improving the quality of education and providing healthcare to all Americans need not be cast aside in this process if we can create components of the stimulus that will create short term jobs and long term gains at the same time. Strategic investments in these areas can play an important role in addressing those issues and ending the recession as you will see from our first suggestion below.

5. Building Long Term Political Consensus:

The atmosphere of bitter partisanship that has driven the national dialog over the past decade or more must be replaced by a political realignment. To hope for a truly post partisan era is probably polyannish to the extreme but a new governing coalition where constructive engagement trumps partisanship in electoral politics might be possible. At the very least a government that governs from the “radical center” might be able to isolate the extremes on both the left and the right and truly bring about change.


Over the next few weeks I’ll propose several green initiative that meet the five challenges outlined above.