One Month

We're a month into President-Elect Obama's transition. Nothing he has said or done to date comes as any big surprise. In my estimation, he is demonstrating that he is who he said he was, for those of us who paid attention to his words and deeds as opposed to researching the candidates by listening to the media and pundits. There is a thing or two I could kvetch about in lukewarm fashion, but in big picture terms, my overall impression is an extremely positive one.

There are those who are still trying their damnedest to paint Obama as some radical leftist, against all evidence to the contrary. I actually heard Sean Hannity say, on his disappointment with the appointment of HRC as Sec'y of State, "I suppose we should be grateful he didn't nominate William Ayers." If there has ever been a bigger line of idiocy uttered by a bigger idiot on the airwaves, I've yet to hear it.

Obama has never been inclined to surround himself with bobble-headed henchmen, and the team he is surrounding himself with now follows this pattern. They are all strong, seasoned professionals. Most of them were selected as much for their capacity for intelligent dissent as for their experience. They are a diverse group, by every definition. He built his campaign team using this very same model, to great success. He believes in reasoned pragmatism and broad based consensus. He is often credited with an enormous capacity to listen to all sides and absorb information before reaching a decision, and then having the fortitude to accept full accountability for the outcome.

I admire that in a leader. In fact, in my view, that is the very definition of an effective one.

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A campaign finance report was issued recently stating that "only" 26% of Obama's donors were classified as "small" - $200 or less. The interpretation of this information by some is to imply that his campaign was financed by rich, monied, powerful large donors seeking to purchase influence.

Bear in mind that $1000 is the demarcation point of the large donor Fat Cat title.

A little perspective: over the course of nearly two years, I maxed out my donation to the Obama campaign in increments of $25, $50 and $100, meaning I donated $2300 in total. I also personally know tens of dozens of others who did the same, and still more who donated under the maximum but more than $1000 in small increments over time. These are folks like me - suburban volunteers, college students, retirees. To call us Fat Cats is not only a hilarious and gross distortion of reality, it emphatically proves the "lies, damned lies and statistics" maxim.

To deny that Obama's campaign was a textbook example of grass roots initiative at its finest - across the board - is laughable, no matter how you slice it. I know. I was there. And here, in North Carolina, where it made the difference.

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One thing I gave thanks for during the holidays was the passage - at long last - of the security pact with Iraq. The document is certainly not perfect and has its share of critics, but it does set the stage for the Iraqi government to take full ownership of and responsibility for governing and running their own country by 2011. It also sets the stage for Obama to fulfill his pledge to extricate our troops from that war in responsible fashion, with the support of Defense Secretary Gates. The sixteen-month time line might turn into twenty-four, but there can be little doubt that we will be pro-actively working toward a complete turnover sooner than later, and that has always been the real objective.

Another thing I am vehemently grateful for is Obama's relentless focus on our nation's aging infrastructure as a means to an end across many fronts. Speaking with an insider's perspective, I can attest to the truth behind Governor Rendell's recent comments that for every $1 billion the states receive for infrastructure repair and development, 40,000 jobs can be created. That might even be a conservative estimate, and lord knows our infrastructure - from the electrical grids to roads and bridges - is in dire need of an overhaul for the good of our domestic quality of life and national security preparedness, to name but two.

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There are a couple of items I'd personally like to see Obama deal with in the near future:

1. 1. The auto industry is directly or indirectly responsible for 1 in 10 American jobs. We need the industry, and we need it healthy. But I wish the Big Three would be encouraged and even forced to enter bankruptcy proceedings, which would in turn encourage and even force the Michigan faction to make fundamental changes designed to save itself. Man up, Detroit. 

1. 2. I wish he would offer Nancy Pelosi a nice appointment to some harmless outpost of government that she can't refuse, but where she can first do no harm. It's a win-win all the way around. And speaking of doing no harm, please find someone besides RFK Jr. to lead the EPA. I treasure our planet as much as anyone, but his brand of activism is better suited to the private sector. It would be deadly as policy.

1. 3. And lastly, I wish Obama's DOJ would take steps to eliminate the death penalty in our country, once and for all. Period.

Okay, so my three wishes have as much chance of coming true as I have of finding a real Genie in a bottle. But a girl can dream, can't she? Especially a girl with my newfound 'Fat Cat' influence!

Comments

[CGHill]

I am so stealing those three proposals. :)

[Jennifer]

The woman must go. She is an embarrassment. IMHO.

[tiff]

I hear you on the Pelosi thing. Totally.

Also? That's MY dream house, dagnabbit! Give it back!