Black Box Report

Last night I was cleaning up some papers from the past week and it struck me how many big issues, day after day, are hanging out there both unaddressed and enormously critical not only for my generation but my kids. I don't care if you're Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative - if you're not concerned about the following list, you're either not paying attention, or just don't get it.

Let's start of course in Iraq. Obviously we’re a nation at war, and even more importantly is the tempest we may have unleashed in the Middle East, and our indefinite commitment there. A bad situation has been made worse, and has the potential to become an outright nightmare if we don't get an administration with a clue. Loose nukes, terror networks combined with rogue leaders are an unhealthy cocktail - and a policy of not recognizing arms agreements or talking to your enemies is no policy at all. Throw in genocide and an AIDS crisis in developing nations - and you get the idea, the world is becoming a scarier place by the day.

If that wasn't enough, almost every remaining Neanderthal has finally come to the realization that our planet is getting warmer and the consequences are already being felt. Other than our president, I hope no one else really believes we can wait another decade before taking dramatic action.

Back home the squeeze on the middle class is tightening. Between outsourcing jobs and the rolls of the uninsured approaching 50 million, the gap between haves and have-nots is wider than ever. Now we have a mortgage meltdown to contend with and a credit crisis that finds so many in so much debt. Alarmingly, our personal finances may be better than our governments. Unprecedented debt and stunning deficits both promise painful cuts and limited options for the next commander in chief.

And that brings me full circle. With the litany of challenges if not crises facing our next president, I can understand why a recent poll showed for the first time parents are less optimistic for their children’s generation than their own. The next chapter in our nation’s history demands vision, competency and courage. This president sure didn't show the way.