A Great Opportunity?
By Grant Lawrence
I am all for being positive. But at first glance President Obama's remarks in his weekly radio address that we can "discover great opportunity in the midst of great crisis" seems that he is something of a Pollyanna.
After all we are getting news of growing tent cities, the stock market collapse,troubled banks, massive unemployment, and then there is the recent story of 700 applicants applying for one school janitor's job in Ohio.
But if we really consider what the President is saying, he is right. There can be tremendous opportunity for a real change in this country in the midst of the massive collapse. But, unfortunately, the President has decided to adopt Bush's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has also decided to adopt the strategy of continuing bailing out a failed banking system.
If the President is really serious about finding opportunity in a crisis then he will need to do more than tweak a failed economic and war policy. He will need to do more than give hopeful speeches.
Instead it is time for bold moves to come from the President and Congress on health care, the economy, and on foreign policy. The President is obviously a good speaker and a very intelligent person. But unless the President really does capture this "Great Opportunity" for real change the force of events will make him powerless and virtually meaningless.
I am all for being positive. But at first glance President Obama's remarks in his weekly radio address that we can "discover great opportunity in the midst of great crisis" seems that he is something of a Pollyanna.
After all we are getting news of growing tent cities, the stock market collapse,troubled banks, massive unemployment, and then there is the recent story of 700 applicants applying for one school janitor's job in Ohio.
But if we really consider what the President is saying, he is right. There can be tremendous opportunity for a real change in this country in the midst of the massive collapse. But, unfortunately, the President has decided to adopt Bush's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has also decided to adopt the strategy of continuing bailing out a failed banking system.
If the President is really serious about finding opportunity in a crisis then he will need to do more than tweak a failed economic and war policy. He will need to do more than give hopeful speeches.
Instead it is time for bold moves to come from the President and Congress on health care, the economy, and on foreign policy. The President is obviously a good speaker and a very intelligent person. But unless the President really does capture this "Great Opportunity" for real change the force of events will make him powerless and virtually meaningless.
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