I really like the “Open for Questions” feature that has been going on over at change.gov. For this second round (which was recently completed,) the new white house press secretary responded to the questions in a short video. Not only am I thrilled to see such an adaptation of modern technology at the highest levels of the Executive, but I also really like what I hear. Please watch this video to the end (or fast forward to 4:15) for some great news. A million small steps.
Making decisions on the basis of rational thought instead of rank ignorance? Man, that’s just crazy enough to work.
I think only a decade from now, most Americans will look back on the practice of firing key military personnel for personal reasons utterly unrelated to their job performance, and say the same things they say about slavery and barring women from voting: “How in the world did we ever justify that?”
Matt,
I too, am very happy with the use of the internet by the incoming administration. However, I am cautious also. Remember, just because our party (or in my case, one of the two political parties I donate and vote for — the other is the Green party) is now in the majority, I don’t totally trust either of the two “major” parties.
It should be noted that Obama has backed off of his previous stance that MJ should be decriminalized. Whether this is strategy, to avoid right wing political drama, and wait until he achieves other things first, the truth is that non violent drug offenders languish in prisons, at a tragic human and economic cost.
Also, Obama has hinted that he’s not so sure that he can close “gitmo” in the first 100 days.
So, again, I voted for him, I believe he’s a good guy, but he can’t possibly be totally free of “politics”.
change.gov is a great site, but notice that they’ve intentionally deleted any references to certain issues, including but not limited to drug policy.
That said, I’m happier than if the racist snakes McCain and Palin had been elected.
With Obama, we have some hope in these dire economic times. With McCain / Palin, we might just have had concentration camps or other horrific things.
In follow up, I wanted to add, an attorney we know here in CT made the comment that some people are saying that they believe the “right wing” might be more happy with Obama than the “left wing” (I’ll add because there is the danger that he only accomplishes very small tasks, like ending “don’t ask don’t tell” but not getting us full marriage rights -or at least civil unions- or national hate crimes legislation that includes LGBT people, or on the other issue, might not do anything positive on drug policies.)
If he ends his first term without major progress on many social / liberal issues, I may just be forced to vote Green next time.
That said, I’ll wait four years before making the decision either way.
As to the Obama family as a first family, I think they look great, are the best since the Carter family as far as sincerety, and I wish them the best.
Mr. Obama is intelligent, and we need someone with “smarts” to get us through the 2nd major economic depression in less than a century here in the USA!