Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Socialist Hopes for the Obama Presidency

Today's Wall Street Journal features a roundup of commentary from folks like Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and ex-con junk bond-king turned philanthropist Michael Milken.

But Katrina vanden Heuvel's
opening essay is a socialist eye-opener:

Mr. Obama has a mandate for change. People support reconstruction of America's crumbling physical infrastructure, and of our society. Here are a few steps I hope Mr. Obama will take: Reverse our deepening economic inequality by using this country's still immense wealth to assure that all Americans have the health care, housing and education they need; re-engage the world with wisdom and humility about the limits of military power; cut billions from wasteful defense budgets that empty our treasury without making us more secure; tackle the deep corruption in a financial system that consistently favors corporations over workers; respond with urgency to the climate crisis with an Apollo-like project to make America a clean-energy innovator; restore our tattered Constitution; protect a worker's right to organize; define a new spirit of sacrifice and service; clean up our elections; and reaffirm his campaign-trail commitment to end not just the war in Iraq but also "end the mindset that took us into" that war. Do not endanger the promise of this administration by escalating militarily in Afghanistan, further draining resources that are vital for rebuilding here at home.

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