Barak Obama podcast

Barak Obama, senator from Illinois, has put out another Podcast. In it he talks about the Democrats becoming the majority in the house and senate, and talks about initiatives Democrats will be focusing on, including:

• Phased redeployment from Iraq
• Increasing minimum wage (has fallen far behind due to inflation)
  
• Implementing all of the 9/11 comission report recommendations
• Addressing the rising cost of college tuition
• Fixing the Medicare prescription drug plan, allowing the government to negotiate drug prices (and you wonder why the U.S. has by far the highest per-capita health care costs - and without universal coverage!)

Some of the bills that he will be working on personally:

• Expanding the College Pell grant program
• Creating summer learning programs
• Promoting alternative energies (biofuels, etc)
• Improving chemical plants security

All in all, a good progressive agenda that will hopefully repair some of the damage done in the last 6 years. As usual, Barak comes across as sincere, apolitical, and genuinely seeking to achieve results.

The one item I haven't seen mentioned that I'd like to really see addressed would be the sorry state of pre-K to 12 education in the U.S. By most measures we are far behind other industrialized countries. Not only is our educational system lagging other countries, it is grossly unequal. Funding schools based on local real estate taxes is ridiculous and Bush's teach-to-the-test program "No child left behind" has been a disaster.

Do you care about these issues?

• Subscribe to Barak's podcast here