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Originally Posted by AGDee
I agree and have voiced that as my main concern with him. Realistically, you can't do it all in 4 years or even 8 years. Some of his aims seem very long term but if we make even baby steps toward them, I'm good with that. Everybody thought Kennedy was nuts when he said we were going to send a man to the moon. He didn't live to see it, but we did it. Some people still didn't believe we'd done it even when we did. I think we have to dream big but take smaller steps to get there. Medicare prescription coverage is a good example. The current plan really doesn't help most seniors, but it's been a step and hopefully it will continue to improve. Reagan dreamed of the Star Wars defense program which led to some of the anti-ballistic missiles that exist today. People laughed at Reagan for that one, but some good ideas came from it and have protected some of our troops from being killed. We can go around saying "We can't do that" but we definitely can't do it if we don't try. Will any President ever get their whole agenda in place and fully functioning exactly the way they hoped? No. It doesn't mean they can't take steps toward it. I think that was the biggest problem with Hilary's health care plan. It was too much change too fast and just got shot down and dropped. But SCHIP was created in 1997 to at least get more kids insured. Medicare prescription coverage is a start, but is not far enough. My mom was told she had to resign from her job as a bank teller in 1961 as soon as she became visibly pregnant. At that time, nobody would have predicted the Family and Medical Leave Act which guarantees a new mother that her job will be held for her if she's gone less than 12 weeks for maternity leave. It's a step! We take these steps, little by little and eventually, things change. Little by little, women are shattering the glass ceiling. Someday we will probably have equal pay for equal work. Obama wants to see it happen during his term, but it probably won't. If the difference continues to lessen, then he's making progress.
40 years after Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy were assassinated and 41 years after riots destroyed Detroit, we have an African American man who has a very good chance of becoming President. If we don't dream big, things don't change.
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Dreaming big is one thing; tax-cut calculator seems like a promise of something that ought to be tangible. And delivered in one administration.
What do you feel like Obama has offered on the level of going to the moon or King's dream or the star wars defense system?
Since I'm cynical about politicians, I'd rather have a Contract with American type plan rather than a big dream, assuming that the plan was made reality.