Priorities

President-elect Barack Obama spoke to the American people last week about the urgency of passing an economic recovery plan. He explained in some detail what can be done and should be done and what will likely be the outcome if it’s not done.

Not surprisingly, there were objections by one or another member of Congress to this or that particular of his plan – too much, too little, too late, too soon -- because that’s how politics works. Still, I have a hard time understanding why, when Barack Obama won the election so handily, when the populace clearly wants dramatic measures taken in order to right the ship of state, we have members of Congress fussing about this tax cut or that bailout instead of getting down to business.

The feeling I had after listening to Obama’s speech about his plan was that if ever there was a time for Americans to write their congressmen it is now. I sent off a letter to Barton, Cornyn and Hutchison as follows:

I urge you to pass President-Elect Barack Obama's American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan immediately. Do not allow the bill to be weakened by delaying tactics on either side of the aisle. We need a big and bold plan of strategic, substantial and sustained public investment to create jobs now, generate clean energy, modernize our infrastructure and expand access to health care and education. Our economy is hemorrhaging and urgent action is needed. Thank you.

And, you know what? It’s not just about our economy. It’s about world peace and about our national security.

The world outside our borders is blowing up, and we need to get this matter of our economy under control so that soon-to-be President Obama can re-direct his attention to places like Israel and Gaza, Pakistan, India, Iraq and Iran, because he is our best hope, if there is hope, and we need him now.

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Over the course of the last several years, some 8,000 rockets have been fired into Israel from Gaza, destroying homes, injuring and killing innocent people and driving families to bomb-shelter living. The world has taken little notice. A “cease fire” between Israel and Hamas, the Islamic militants who took over Gaza by force in a bloody coup against the Palestinian Authority a while back, ended just before Christmas. Hamas fired some 80 rockets into Israel that day and continued the bombardment daily thereafter -- and Israeli parents and children returned to the bomb-shelters.

When Israel finally said “Enough!” and fought back, Hamas deliberately drew deadly fire on its fellow citizens, with predictable results. Now there was outrage in the international community.

There’s a problem here, I think. And someone needs to deal with it. The United States is the one force that has any hope of mediating a solution in this dreadfully complex situation, but we can’t do it while we’re fighting our own economic demons.

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We are in a situation the likes of which none of us has ever experienced. We don’t have a model for resolving the mixture of economic and international crises in which we find ourselves in this year 2009, so the best option is to trust those whom, after all, we have elected.

And tell those members of Congress to get on board.