The first thing that Obama should do is review the powers given to the office of the President by the Constitution. Clinton, Bush, the Senate and Congress have lived in a state of denial that a Constitution exists for far too long resulting in national disasters that should have been state problems.

The states and the people have the power to solve any problem with business that they run into.

There is nothing in the Constitution that allows the federal government to prevent drilling or mining anywhere or to set emission standards. There is nothing in the Constitution that prevents the states from banning mining and drilling within their borders or to set emission standards.

If you are concerned about drilling, mining, or emissions, contact your state legislature.

http://ewebsmith.com/gov/WrongBusiness.html

But allowing for various (CARB) restricitons in addition to the US federal ones is killing many branches of alternate fuel vehcile produciton that could be done now, and it is just flat stupid. I can go to many foreign lands and buy a smallish diesel pickup that gets 30mpg, or a small car that gets 50-60mpg realtively cheaply. In the USA? Don't make me laugh. if its not in the mold of Prius it is not easy to make happen at a reasonable price point. All due to the costs of special emissions rules designed to fit all combustion types into one straight jacket. The rules for CNG vehicles are similarly problematic in terms of regulations. Both are compelling alternatives to all electric future, but the difference is they can be had now and start making a difference now too if the barriers were not set so high. Bascially, we are letting the perfect be the enemy of the good here.

The reason I'm inclined to let them go rot is because for years the automakers have resisted regulation (sound familiar) and have wanted lower emissions standards and lower mpg standards. The reason why Japanese cars are fairing better is because of their higher mpg standards. As far as I'm concerned the auto makers wanted a quick buck rather than develop a long term strategy that would reduce our dependence on foreign oil and safeguard the environment.

Since many “Japanese” (meaning foreign in general) are made in the US, I hope that any tax benefits (or other benefits) that are put in place for American companies can be made to any foreign company which creates jobs (not just auto) in the US. With our low dollar exports from the US to many other countries should be attractive to companies (less to produce these goods in the US and export).

Many of these critics are the same people who are now sporting “Obama is not my president” insignia…. While I expect Obama to reach out to them and gain their input on new issues I think it is another matter entirely when decisions about abortion, stem cell research, etc. have been made for purely political reasons and only to pander to a minority of the population (the religious right). If there has been strong bipartisan support in the past on these issues, but Bush used his veto power to block them, then I think Obama is right to examine these issues and reverse these policies.

If Obama does reverse these policies, I'd love to hear how he presents the decisions to the American people. No doubt he will acknowledge the religious dilemma but will sell on the merits of the particular issue. What I don't know is whether or not he will mention that these are “Bush” issues and say something like, “now is the time to move forward” and acknowledge the political aspects. Obama will not tie these past decisions (at least for abortion and stem cell research) to “Republicans”. Bush, as we've seen the past eight years, has tied everthing he disagrees with to Democrats and has divided the country into two camps on these issues. If I had a nickel for everytime Bush said, “Democrats in Congress….” I could take a year long cruise. Obama, during his campaign, has not divided the country into these overly-simplified camps and there is no reason to believe he will start once he takes office.

We know that congress will help the auto industry. Neither the Republicans nor the Democrats are going to want to see the US automakers fall into bankruptcy. But if we're going to bail them out anyway, why NOT make the funds contingent on a massive push to develop *affordable* alternative fuel automobiles? I'm excited about the prospect of a hydrogen-powered auto. But if the resulting cars are insanely expensive (as I believe the limited number being produced currently are) why not offer the automakers the money they need to keep operating, but with a caveat that they need to begin development and production on affordable solutions?

To my mind, I'd rather see something along those lines, instead of “here's the money you need to stay afloat, please spend wisely!”

And I have never completely been a fan of EO's anyway. I know the arguments, but I still cannot shake the feeling that they are an end around to to Congressional duties and responsibilities. So the less, the better.

First and second, congratulations and thank you. You masterminded the best campaign in history for a man I have the highest hopes for.

I imagine you are not done yet. I am sure that you will have something to say about the inauguration speech, and that is the subject of this letter.

JFK’s best line in his inauguration speech was arguably “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country” This dovetails quite nicely with Obama’s theme that this was our campaign, and is our victory. What must be said in this most important speech is what we the people must do to help our country. The American people are willing to be told in no uncertain terms what we must do, and in my humble opinion need to be told so.

Economic recovery, which we all want, needs to be put into our hands in small deeds that we can all achieve. This recovery is obviously not just bailing out Wall Street and banks. It isn’t just about shoring up Ford and GM. Granted all that is important. But, this speech must give us clear and decisive ways for each American to assist those efforts, not just tell us what the government plans to do.

Economic recovery is a spider web of interconnecting possibilities and needs. One thread of this web is to stop sending billions of dollars overseas for oil. To get back to a superior economic status in the world we need to be energy independent. Obama has made the promise that if elected he will make us energy independent in ten years. We need to know how we the people can help make it happen ourselves. We want know what we can start doing now and not wait for the molasses to flow from Washington. Some ideas follow.

Combine the idea of shoring up the auto industry with federal loans to retool so that “Detroit” is building not only the most energy efficient cars in the world but that they are building only extremely energy efficient cars. In the speech Americans should be asked to start demanding this type of car the next time they are in the market, settle for nothing less. They should also be told to start to demand that the content of these vehicles be American made. As you probably know David, an “American” made car will probably have a transmission from Japan, and alternator made in Mexico, and so on. We need those jobs back in the USA as a part of our recovery, and Barack can ask us to demand that as well. Yes, the bailout money to Detroit could and should demand higher American made content in vehicles, but is up to we the people to buy cars truly made by American labor, our new President should tell us that.

Energy independence also will require going green. The speech should encourage all of us to do things like solar installations on our homes wherever possible. The government can aid us by helping green power startups and providing tax breaks for us to purchase the systems. Not everyone can go solar, but the speech should tell consumers to start demanding that the energy grid in America be fed by renewable sources and lobby their representatives to find a way to make this possible.

In short, I hope that in this speech our new President puts the impetus on we the people. It should be a matter of patriotism to work every day in our own small way to get our economy growing again. Barack must inspire us with definite tasks that we can do for our country. Don’t leave us wondering what we can do. Tell us. Then help us.

. I think most Americans would welcome a reverse on these policies, but I think Obama knows that he got elected to help the middle-class withstand the effects of the severe economic downturn that we are presently in.

With specific regard to stem cell research, I don't think I'd characterize the debate within the scientific community over how necessary this research is as “raging”. My impression is that the consensus among experts in the field is fairly broad that the research is important, and that the restrictions are a severe impediment. Moreover, both houses of congress passed bills to lift the ban by comfortable margins — just not comfortable enough to override Bush's veto.

Obama clearly is taking a play from George W's book on this. I thought of it as “Outrage Fatigue.” Simply, quickly move on a bunch of political issues, one after another, leaving the press and the minority party at a loss of which issue to address. Best of all, you spend little to no political capital. It's an amazing tactic that has served the Republicans well in the past, and I'm eager to see it turned against them.