The "O" List

I’ve spent some time over the last few days trying to come up with a list of issues to be addressed by incoming President-Elect Barack Obama and his administration, and here they are (incomplete I know, and I’ll admit that there’s a lot of “If I ruled the world, every day would be the first day of spring” stuff – also, if anyone out there is disposed to suggest changes or additions, be my guest). I figured that, if there was ever a time for this sort of thing, it was now before he took the oath of office.

Also, I tried to place these items in order of importance, but I’ll admit that some items should probably be higher up on the list than others, so here goes…

Withdraw the majority of our forces from Iraq within 16 months, leaving behind a combat presence to supplement Iraq security forces as needed within the parameters of the status of forces agreement (noted here – oh, and by the way, rescind the ban of filming or photography of caskets returning to this country from the war, OK?).

Work to stabilize (as much as possible) Afghanistan without further destabilizing Pakistan and making sure neither fortifies itself as a safe haven for terrorists (and no, I don’t have a clue as to how to do that either, to be honest; I thought this was a good recent column on the subject by Bob Herbert of the New York Times…I would only say that we need to maintain a presence of some type in that area of the world to capitalize on any circumstances that would enable us to capture or kill bin Laden).

Appoint a special independent counsel to investigate all members of the Bush Administration as necessary concerning the matter of the commission of war crimes (including the events that led up to September 11th).

Provide as much of an economic stimulus as required to encourage infrastructure investment and enable credit liquidity that would spur job creation; part of this stimulus should provide relief for some mortgage holders trapped by the subprime loan debacle.

Appoint an individual working within the Commerce department (or a team) to determine the status of our infrastructure and the scope of the task at hand to repair it, as well as the cost, coordinating with federal, state and local governments and NGOs; this includes roads, bridges, tunnels, mass transit stations, ports, and public works facilities (this will take awhile).

Achieve health care coverage for all by supporting employer-based insurance (assisted by a small business health tax credit) or offering a National Health Insurance Exchange for those without employer-paid insurance, providing cost incentives for health care providers to participate in the exchange.

As part of the economic stimulus, encourage use of renewable energy sources and development of hybrid vehicles (I would argue for more mass transit funding also as part of the infrastructure stuff above).

Determine the legal status of each detainee held at Guantanamo; if no case can be made, either return them to their country of origin or determine an alternate location, or if a case can be made, do so and incarcerate them pending trial in our civilian courts.

At a minimum, allow the cut to the estate tax to expire, as well as any other tax cuts originating from the Bush Administration, by no later than 2010 (or earlier if possible).

Begin peace talks for real in pursuit of cessation of hostilities and eventual reconciliation between Israel and Palestine, including a two-state solution pending the resolution of the status of Jerusalem, the “right-of-return” question and the end of settlement construction in the Palestinian territories (yeah, I know – good luck with that).

Renew support for the Kyoto Protocol on Global Warming, and encourage the Senate to ratify UNCLOS once and for all (or attempt to renegotitate it to facilitate passage).

Conduct a thorough review of all Bush Administration “midnight rules” and attempt to remedy them through either new Congressional legislation or implementation of the Congressional Review Act.

Invest in early childhood education and reform (or scrap outright) NCLB so that talented educators are no longer constrained to “teach to the test” only (and conduct open bidding among vendors for all contracts, not just for those affecting NCLB and the Department of Education, but ALL government agencies).

Establish Net Neutrality through an act of Congress as the guiding principle behind all application development concerning personal computers and dependent software, as well as the Internet and other emerging forms of communication.

Encourage and support legislation mandating that all congressional earmarks to legislation are disclosed under penalty of law.

Require Congress to provide periodic status reports concerning the implementation of ALL recommendations of the 9/11 Commission.

Encourage Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform that ensures a path to citizenship for illegal aliens that maintain a job history, pay taxes and avoid convictions for criminal offenses (and halt construction of the border fence pending an environmental review).

Cease development and/or construction of a “space-based missile defense shield” in Europe once and for all (but tell our ol’ buddy Vlad that that’s contingent upon his acceptance of Georgia into NATO and see if he goes for it).

Evaluate any progress in negotiations with North Korea on the matter of plutonium enrichment and nuclear stockpiles and develop a new framework to ensure that all materials are accounted for and production is halted.

Begin low-level discussion with Iran in pursuit of a halt to military-related nuclear activity, including a program of UN verification tied to sanctions.

Sign the “Ottawa Treaty” banning anti-personnel mines.

Sign the UN declaration calling for an international decriminalization of homosexuality (according to this, we were the only Western nation that didn’t sign on).

Remove any “abstinence only” restrictions on funding the fight against AIDS in Africa and throughout the world (including this country) through PEPFAR (actually, get rid of PEPFAR altogether and route all monies through the AIDS Global Fund and end the damn favoritism and redundancy).

Remove any restrictions on funding for embryonic stem cell research (assuming we’re not hopelessly behind on this by now).

Support the restoration of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to include all judicial oversight provisions as those that existed when it was originally passed and signed into law in 1978.

Restore the workplace rules governing repetitive strain injuries in the workplace that were trashed by Bushco in 2001 after years of negotiation conducted between businesses and the Clinton Administration.

Rescind the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 to ensure transparency within our financial markets, and return regulatory oversight to any trading of future commodities.

Work to pass and eventually sign into law the Employee Free Choice Act.

End the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy and appoint a panel of civilian and military personnel to look at the legal and moral issues attendant to the question of allowing LGBT individuals to serve our country (including an examination of the practices of other countries).

Assign an individual from the Department of Homeland Security to conduct a review of events that led up to (and occurred during and subsequent to) the devastation of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita on the Gulf Coast in 2005, focusing primarily on the city of New Orleans; it will be the job of this person to define and delineate issues affecting all governmental, business and private entities that were impacted and assign/coordinate follow-up tasks and recommendations (including coordination with the Attorney General to recommend charges against individuals in violation of civil or criminal statutes).

Assign a legal team to work with the National Archive to review ALL records from the Bush Administration (in paper, electronic, or other form) and determine any material that the administration is legally required to provide that is missing (any lawyers working on this task would have the ability to issue subpoenas to any culpable individuals or entities).

If any of these goals are achieved (hopefully more than just a few), I’ll do my best to update this post accordingly.