Eight Ways Obama Can Make Change Immediately

By Allan Hunt Badiner, AlterNet. Posted November 10, 2008.

"Yes We Can" was sung to victory particularly by millions of young people, single women and black and brown people of all ages. These are the soldiers in Barack Obama's great army -- poised to prove that the election was just the first battle in a war of many. Just as the campaign itself was a threat to the status quo and the powerful interests that profit from it, so will be much of Obama's new agenda, and it will be up to all of us to make ourselves heard again and again.

Obama's victory is clearly historic, but does it really change the world? Yes and no. A dark cloud has finally passed, and there is a bright opening for a future to be possible. But for the immediate future there will still be troops in Iraq, there will still be an economic crisis, there will still be famine and conflict in Africa, and there will still be terrorist elements all over the world aiming their anger at the United States and the rest of the developed world.

Obama asked for our patience. "We may not get there in one year or one term," said Obama in his victory speech, "but I have never been more hopeful that we will get there." He called for a government by "yes you can" and asked for people to continue their historic campaign for change. The fact that we will now have a president who is willing to listen to the people does not diminish the need for the people to speak up forcefully.

But can Obama make meaningful change immediately? The power of the presidency is often exaggerated, particularly in the first year, and those less familiar with Washington politics are often oblivious to the real political constraints and limitations on strategies that every new president faces. It's not difficult to predict that a lot of people will be very disappointed with how long it takes for some crucial things to change.

But this time the need for change is so great, the dereliction of duty and corruption of values at the top of government so extensive for so long, that a plan for less controversial and yet significant changes can be immediately possible. Furthermore, the rout of Republican losses in the House and Senate will make this immediate agenda legislatively viable.

A list of changes on the fast track:

1. Creation of a massive green jobs initiative, mobilizing the unemployed to transform our energy landscape toward sustainability, providing incentives to volunteerism, and mobilizing a national effort (in the style of a Manhattan Project) to green all of our cities. An investment of $150 billion over 10 years should be made to support renewable energy and get 1 million plug-in electric cars on the road by 2015. Starting with green government procurement policies, a new powerful push will be made in the right direction. Imagine all new government purchases: fuel, vehicles, construction materials, supplies, etc., all strictly environmentally correct. Strategic tax and federal funding policies can promote energy efficiency incentives along with disincentives to pollute.

2. Respect for science, and renewed use of expert and diverse presidential commissions to encourage more realistic assessments and innovative ideas for solutions.

3. Renewed respect for international law, and a new series of accords and alliances with other nations for mutual security, cooperation on global climate action, and the establishment of a clear timetable for eliminating all nuclear weapons. A national commitment to reduce America's carbon emissions 80 percent by 2050 and to play a strong positive role in negotiating a binding global treaty to replace the expiring Kyoto Protocol should be an immediate priority. If it isn't, it means Obama needs citizen action to help it along.

4. Priority on educational quality, incentives for creativity, and the end of test-driven instruction.

5. Investment in the NGO community, creating channels for NGOs to influence and inform the policy process, mandatory service for pre-college students and tax credits for community services.

6. Closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention center and developing a plan for a more educated, more ethical and better equipped military. Huge resources are spent on defense, some of those resources will be redirected to educate soldiers -- culturally, etc. -- and improve on the ways we try to win wars, i.e., feeding people rather than bombing them. De-politicizing military intelligence will help avoid repeating the kind of manipulation that led to the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

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Allan Hunt Badiner is a writer, activist and editor of three books: Dharma Gaia: A Harvest of Essays in Buddhism and Ecology, Zig Zag Zen: Buddhism and Psychedelics, and Mindfulness in the Marketplace: Compassionate Responses to Consumerism.

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