What Obama's Next Steps Should Be on Health Care, Transportation, Iraq and More

AlterNet asked dozens of writers, experts and activists on key issues to write about where the country needs to go, and the priorities for Barack Obama's early days in office. The following is the second in a series of articles we'll be running this week. You can find the first article here.

Sara Robinson, fellow, Campaign for America's Future

The most important thing for incoming Obama policy makers to remember right now is that, while Obamacare is a fine step in the right direction, they shouldn't be shy about using the words "single payer." (Or, put it another way: Medicare for all.) The K Street lobbyists for the insurance and pharmaceutical companies may scream bloody murder whenever the idea is floated, but the polls over the past several years have shown irrefutably that the American public -- including a majority of Republicans -- is behind this idea at least 2 to 1. That's a lot of political cover, and they should take full advantage of it to do the right thing.

It's also an absolutely necessary thing. American workers are competing with European and Canadian workers who have the choice to go back to school, start a small business, take time off and travel, stay home with their kids for a few years, fully recuperate from a disabling condition, or tell their boss where they can stick it without the threat of losing their insurance. Having guaranteed health care not only makes these workers physically healthier and extends their productive years; it also increases these countries' social and economic capital by enabling them to become better skilled, better traveled, more entrepreneurial and more personally fulfilled. American workers simply can't compete on an equal footing in a tight global labor market until they have equal access to care.

It's also the right thing to do economically. A new Harvard Law School study found that more than half of the mortgage defaults underlying the subprime meltdown were triggered by overwhelming medical bills or job loss due to disability. It's probably not an overstatement to say that much of America's current financial distress is the direct product of our health care crisis. (It's ironic that the same financial wizards who so boldly proclaimed that we were all on our own -- or should be -- are now losing everything because they simply didn't notice how interconnected these issues are. If they'd shared just enough of their loot to ensure that Americans had decent health care, they'd still be Masters of the Universe. They didn't. So we don't. So they aren't. Who says there's no such thing as karma?)

Most importantly: It's the best thing an incoming Obama administration can do to usher in a new and enduring progressive era. Giving every American access to health care will do more to undercut the entire conservative worldview and replace it with a new progressive political philosophy than anything else you can name. Once people realize that government can do this much good for this many people, it will restore our faith in the power of democracy -- and when that happens, all manner of now-impossible things will suddenly become possible.

Margy Waller, executive director, The Mobility Agenda

The next president should create an office of social inclusion, rather than respond to calls for establishing the limited national goal of reducing poverty.

The new president should use the goodwill accorded a new administration to focus on setting a new and higher standard. A better goal goes well beyond income deprivation, beyond even a standard of "making ends meet."

Unless we want to limit policy solutions at the outset, the president should focus instead on measuring our progress as an inclusive nation. For example, every European Union country has a plan for "social inclusion," a multidimensional concept incorporating notions of adequate relative income, neighborhood quality, access to arts, education, health care, participation in civic events, housing, pensions and other factors.