zetasyanthis | Tests of Leadership

[Originally posted on Blogger during my angry politics phase. Please take this journal with a grain of salt and realize I've grown a lot since then. :)]

President-Elect Barack Obama has claimed victory in a race of historic proportions. A public burdened by war and economic problems spoke out tonight and decided to create a new vision of the future. It will now be up to our new President-Elect to transition away from what has been and to what must be, and it will be a rocky road in every respect. The culture of the universal police that has slowly built up must fade away into the darkness from whence it came, and must be replaced by a newfound respect for one another, and a focus on rebuilding what has been lost in this country.

Four key tasks await the P.E. Obama, and none of them will be easy. All of them focus on long-term goals, which have been long forgotten in this country.

The war in Iraq and Afghanistan must be ended as quickly as possible without totally destabilizing the region. We must recognize that we cannot simply leave overnight, but that said, we must move quickly. The Iraqi people's readiness for democracy is not a function of our participation at this point, but is now a choice they will have to make. Religion and cultural views cloud our judgments as much as they do theirs, and they may simply not accept that form of government as a result. An added benefit of this withdrawal is that it will allow us to refocus our funds on rebuilding education and critical infrastructures that must be upgraded and rebuilt.

I come from the same city as P.E. Obama, and he knows better than most just how terrible our current school system is. No child left behind has been a disaster, and has only worsened conditions in many schools. Part of the needed change is that we must relax regulations on firing teachers and require mandatory competence testing, to make sure our educators are themselves ready. Hand-in-hand with this, we must advocate and properly fund scientific education and research so that we do not backslide and fade into "just another country."

Economically, we have witnessed a failure in the free-market system we so enjoy. To say is was solely the "greed of Wall Street" is to only lie to ourselves, and we must admit that the structure we have built up encourages CEOs to drive stock prices up at any cost, less they lose their jobs due to a short term loss. The new P.E. has some experience in this field, and it will be up to him; but the pull-out from Iraq is also a requirement to repair the damage done. Without it, we will never balance the budget enough to pay for the programs we already have, let alone new ones.

Critical infrastructures throughout the US have been slowly degrading. Many components of the Eisenhower highway system has lasted well beyond its expected lifetime, and is in need of significant rebuilds in many areas, most of them densely populated. The power grid, which is currently built to provide power from a few central generating stations, must be rebuilt to handle the new forms of renewable energy that are coming into the market, as well as the adoption of plug-in hybrids and electric cars.

P.E. Obama has a long road to travel. If he keeps to his word and keeps the people informed of not just what, but why decisions are being made to some effect, he will accomplish what he has set out to do and much more. It rests on him, and on our willingness to listen, now.