Like in all branches of this post-election Federal government, Obama must put in place people who will really reform the processess, and not continue to wallow in the same old BS from past years, as I am sure McCain/Palin would gladly perpetuate.
If not, America's credibility will never be restored to what it once was a mere 40 years ago; we will continue to witness that good old "Revolving Door" of experts-corporate apparatchiks going back and forth from the FDA to the very industries the FDA is charged with regulating.
I see that such reform must happen even before January 2009 across the board in so many realms, particularly environmental, education, law, civil liberties, etc., so that America will not continue to fall off the side of the abyss into more and more abject international failure and loss of respect and faith, the abyss over which we have been teetering during the past 8 years.
If Obama loses, there will be much more continuity with the
Bush/Cheney/Neocon Heritage.
We will see more catastrophic fiscal failures than we are seeing now, with or without that inscrutable $800 billion Bailout Bandaid pushed by Wall Street through an all-too-compliant Congress.
When Obama wins, the same corporate powers will be jockeying to get back into the same power slots to which they have become accustomed over the past 8 years. (Or is it really not the past 60 years?)
However, I have the supreme intuition and faith that Obama will continue to be enough of a Populist that he will say no to them, and thus galvanize the collective energy, brains and enthusiasm of 30 million formerly alienated Idealists and Reformers. Call such an intuitive faith naive, ridiculous, or immature: call it whatever you like, even a childish vision of Camelot.
Just think about what 30 million idealists and reformers could do to bring back Hope to the United States. I would like to see the creation of a powerful new United Nations Undersecretary General for Nutrition and Consumer Protection, personally.
If that revitalized idealism and reform during an Obama Presidency do not have a chance to happen, we are probably doomed as a nation.
As Paul Newman told me 30 years ago: "We have to keep trying!"
Paul, may you rest in peace, and Pax Vobiscum.
Stephen Fox, Contributing Editor New Mexico Sun News
Founder, New Millennium Fine Art / Santa Fe
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