| Now that Leader Reid has gotten the 60 votes to start the lengthy health care debate in the Senate, it is imperative, in my opinion, that the Obama Administration reload and double up their leadership on the other major pending issues--war strength levels, jobs and the economy, financial reform and energy. I realize the popular opinion is that the President not multi-task on these mega issues. The reason I say action now is because solutions to those issues are as critical as health care is to the country, and to ignore them, even if temporarily, could be devastating because: 1. Solutions to each issue are complex, thorny, and require all the support of the White House to be accomplished, in such a vituperative partisan Congress. 2. Each issue has a separate, large and vehement constituency--to ignore them and their issue, will encorage them, out of frustration, to involvement in other issues, like possible opposition to health care reform. 3. Aggressive attention to these four issues, if diverted collectively, could send a dangerous signal of lack of importance that could be impossible to overcome. Early indications of concern, especially for jobs and the economy, surfaced last week among members of the Congressional Black Caucus. This is not the time for the President to take his eye off the ball, even temporarily. |
