Ideas for Obama

President-elect Barack Obama now faces tremendous challenges, and local advocates and organizers -- many of whom have worked with Obama over the years -- offer a range of ideas on how to make the bailout work, address the foreclosure crisis, target economic stimulus to jobs and better transportation, and move forward on immigration, education, media reform and campaign financing.

Some also express concern over the prospect of administration positions for local establishment like Rahm Emanuel, Valerie Jarrett and Arne Duncan. Details are at Community Media Workshop's Newstips.

The National Training and Information Center, a network of community organizations, is preparing a set of proposals to make the bailout work and save homeowners. NTIC's Gail Parson told Newstips the Treasury Department has to begin using the authority given it under the bailout bill to mandate broad-based, permanent loan modifications -- including reductions of principal and interest.

"In our experience case-by-case loan modifications don't work, and voluntary loan modifications aren't working," she said.

Parson applauds Obama's endorsement of a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures, but goes further, calling for a suspension of all foreclosures until the loans involved can be investigated for fraud, deceptive and unfair practices, and disclosure violations. NTIC also supports amending the bankruptcy code to allow court-ordered loan modifications for primary residences. And given that a third of all foreclosures involve multi-unit buildings, provisions must be made to allow renters to stay in their apartments and continue paying market rent after foreclosure, Parson said.

NTIC has a raft of proposals for oversight of the bailout and credit reform, and the group is also calling for a moratorium on the demolition of public housing, until full funding for HUD public and subsidized housing programs is restored.

DeAngelo Bester, the group's lead housing organizer, takes issue with the suggestion of Valerie Jarrett as Secretary of HUD. He came up against Jarrett's Habitat Company as a community organizer working with residents of subsidized housing on the West Side. The new HUD secretary should put the interests of tenants over those of developers, he said. "She is not the right person. She has backed slumlords in Chicago."

Jobs

The next major challenge facing Obama is the threat of a major recession. In Austin -- where things have been tough for a long time -- the South Austin Coalition has been pushing for a national jobs program. "We need something like CEDA," the program eliminated by Ronald Reagan, said Bob Vondrasek of SAC. The Chicagoland Green Collar Jobs Initiative, which includes nonprofit job training groups, offers organizing muscle behind calls for a Green New Deal with millions of new jobs.

John Bouman of the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law says any green jobs or infrastructure repair program needs a component to help the long-term unemployed -- and programs that help working families make ends meet (child care subsidies, food stamps, utilities assistance) need beefing up.

He expects quick action to expand the State Child Health Insurance Program, which President Bush vetoed twice this year. "That would establish momentum for a larger health care program, and it would cover people during the couple of years it will take to get that," Bouman said.

James Thindwa of Chicago Jobs With Justice said labor's priority will be passing the Employee Free Choice Act, which could raise the living standard of millions of workers by removing obstacles to union organization. Thindwa said many labor activists are "very, very disturbed" by the appointment of Rahm Emanuel as Obama's chief of staff -- particularly after the massive union effort for Obama's candidacy. "Those of us who fought NAFTA still remember his role on that," he said. "Hopefully Barack will have a salutory effect on him."

Transportation

Others are focused on getting transportation priorities right with transportation projects included in two expected stimulus measures -- and especially in reauthorization of the surface transportation bill next year. We should give priority to repairing existing roads and bridges, over new road construction, as well as to transit and rail, said Brian Imus of Illinois PIRG.

"We should be spending in ways that don't make our problems worse," he said, citing the economic drag of oil dependence and higher gas prices, growing congestion, and global warming. That could mean shifting funds from the proposed Prairie Parkway -- former speaker Denny Hastert's legacy -- to expansion of IL-47, which provides the same interstate connection, said Stacy Meyers-Glen of Openlands. And it could mean backing off from building a new airport in Peotone, said George Ochsenfeld of Shut This Airport Nightmare Down.

For passenger rail the first priority is a large order of rolling stock to meet growing demand, said Rick Harnish of the Midwest High Speed Rail Association. The Metropolitan Planning Council is working on ways to reorient the federal government toward regional planning, said Mandy Burrell.

Immigration, Education, Media, Campaign Reform

Fred Tsao of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights expects Obama to ease the citizenship process for legal residents, and to shift from massive workplace raids to more targeted enforcement. On immigration reform and legalization, "it's the job of our organization and our allies to push the new administration to act sooner rather than later," he said; the growing weight of immigrant voters could help.

Julie Woestehoff of Parents United for Responsible Education recalled Obama's work supporting local school councils and urban education efforts, and believes he understands the "fundamental flaws" in the No Child Left Behind Act -- over-reliance on standardized testing, labeling struggling schools as "failing" and punishing them by withdrawing resources. She hopes he'll look for a Secretary of Education who has in-school experience and supports parent involvement -- which she says would leave out CPS chief Arne Duncan.

Obama could face "the mother of all consumer backlashes" next February as TV signals are converted to digital and millions of households are cut off, said Mitchell Szczepanczyk of Chicago Media Action. With his appointments to the FCC, Obama will give a majority to Democrats there who've fought losing battles for localism and diversity and against media consolidation.

A larger challenge -- effecting our economy and our democracy -- is the need for a national broadband policy, Szczepanczyk said. The U.S. -- where the Internet was invented-- "is turning into a digital backwater," he said. "We need to join other countries that treat the Internet as a utility and not a commodity."

"When Obama opted out of public campaign financing, he said the system is broken and promised to work to fix it, and that needs to be a very serious priority for him," said Cindi Canary of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform. She suggests institutionalizing the outpouring of small donor participation seen this year with a federal match for small donors. She'd like to see free TV time given to candidates, as a condition of broadcasters' free use of the airwaves.

On government transparency and ethics, the new president should "take the work he's done in the Illinois Senate and the U.S. Senate, and take it several steps further," Canary said. "Especially as we spend billions of dollars on these bank bailouts, we need to make sure it's done in a transparent and accountable way."

Comments

[AnalyzeIT]

Unite the voting system.

[Jimbo554]

Here's my idea for Obama. Keep the campaign's swiftboat lie correcting machine in place. A coworker of mine, an NRA lifetime member, was at work saying "They can take my guns but they'll take my bullets first." The right-wing will be happy to feed this paranoia.

One of the successes of the Obama campaign was the ability to quickly deal with McCain's swiftboat lies. There is no reason to believe that just because the campaign is over these attacks will stop. In fact, I believe they will intensify by those such as Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity who believe their cause is advanced by division and polarization. I would hate to see Obama's support eroded by unchecked fearmongering.

[SoD1]

Hmm.. Good idea. But rather than the President Obama administration dealing with those Fear and Hate-Mongering little Piss like Limbaugh, I'd see a few Media Observers/ Civil-Rights Organization sueing the bloody hell out of those demagogues and winning latest in the Democrats-­controlled Supreme Court. And OUT they are!
Start now! U.S. Media Reform is essential for President Obama's success. For the time be, his own Information Network will seal the holes.

[emolik16]

I'd juat like to make a suggestion to the new transition team. My wife and I contributed what we could to the campaign, we kept hearing that was how this was going to be won. Now, let's see if we really have a voice.
If T Boone Pickens was not brought on board, that would be a serious mistake.
Thanks, Ed the carpenter.

[ChangeRequired]

Also George Soros for financial prognostication.

[SoD1]

Hmm.. quite eloquent and conclusive "mix" of inter-dependent ideas., which all generates jobs. And regenerate and shape the economy toward an “Eco”-nomy boom.
Parts of the 'short-term' solutions always have to contain the long-term where revenues are reinvested in the circle
Promising new path and a will be a clear evidence of American Greatness, if taken and taken wisely.
Could be truly fun to help develop.

Best Regards!
SoD1