The First 100 Days

[maui9002]

I read an excellent op/ed piece by Leonard Pitts this morning regarding how long it's been since a President mobilized the country's citizens to sacrifice for a greater good. One of the Presidents mentioned by Mr. Pitts that did mobilize the country was FDR, who is the subject of a book I'm reading; specifically about the first 100 days of FDR's presidency. His first inaugural address (which you should read if you haven't already done so or heard it) was a powerful speech--it was the speech in which he uttered the now famous, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself". I'm a relatively new poster to DU, but I've been impressed by the wide variety of opinions and thoughtful posts on a variety of topics. That being said, I wanted to challenge posters with the following scenario; it's late November and President Obama/Clinton has just selected you to be involved in preparing his or her first inaugural address. As a member of the group helping to prepare the address, you're asked to come up with three action items that the new President will address in the first 100 days--remember, the President is not a member of Congress, so in my scenario you're not being asked to address issues that are essentially legislative in nature.

My three ideas to start the discussion:

1. Announce a new foreign policy based on U.S. being a member of the international community and plans to visit leaders around the world to convey this new, humbler, foreign policy, not just with allies, but also with the leaders of countries with whom we have differences.

2. Announce an energy initiative with a stated objective that by some specified date in the future (10 years?), the U.S. would reduce its use of fossil fuels (primarily oil) by some specified amount and announce that a significant part of the budget would be devoted to developing viable sources of alternative energy.

3. Announce an economic recovery plan by creating a "Gulf Coast Recovery Initiative" that would involve the federal government much more closely in redeveloping the areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina and by setting aside a significant amount of the budget to repair interstate highways, bridges, dams, and other large infrastructure projects. (I know I kind of did a "2 for 1" on the last issue, but I couldn't resist).