I understand why some of Obama’s supports feel frustrated with the current state of the union. After eight years of bad policy and wondering if the pain would ever end, the 2008 election created renewed hope for good progressive change. But President Obama walked into the biggest economic storm in decades, and too many of the issues that deserve the President’s attention (and probably would have gotten it in better times) have been pushed to the back burner. For what it’s worth, here are a few thoughts on some of the issues important to me and thoughts on how the President has handled them:

College Affordability (Grade: B) - As I noted a few months ago, President Obama has made a number of accomplishments on this issue, including expanding government Pell Grants and offering more opportunities for young people to earn money for college. He also signaled a commitment to community colleges as affordable alternatives to four-year universities. Even so, there is still a lot of work to do. President Obama should embrace the suggestion’s put forth by Campus Progress’s Students Over Banks project, including bigger grants, making loans directly to students, and ending the profitable subsidies and guarantees to major banks.

Urban Policy (Grade: C-) - The political landscape hasn’t really been favorable to candidates from cities in the past few election cycles. The population in suburbs has been growing at a rapid clip, and urban voters tend to heavily lean Democratic anyway, leaving politicians to make promises to the “swing voters” outside of America’s cities. Barack Obama was the ideal urban candidate during the election. His pledge to create a White House Office of Urban affairs gave hope that he might be serious about improving America’s cities and after months in office, he finally made good on the promise. Nevertheless, there is still tons of work to be done.

Transportation Policy (Grade: B+) - Despite concerns over Ray LaHood being little more than the token Republican appointment in the President’s cabinet, the new Transportation Secretary deserves praise for pushing for a progressive transportation agenda. The President also unveiled his plan for a national high-speed-rail network and committed a few billion dollars to the cause. Although implementing high-speed rail on a large scale will require much more, it is encouraging to see that the President supports it. Unfortunately, many urban transit systems are badly struggling, and the federal government should take a more pro-active role to support those systems.

Energy Policy (Grade: C) - It was only one year ago that $100+ oil prices and $4+ gasoline prices looked like a major threat to the global economy and U.S. prosperity. A year later the issue seems less pressing but still matters. Obama has been investing political capital in cap-and-trade policy, but it’s future is still questionable, as is its ability to be particularly effective. With all the talk of improving our economy, it’s worth considering that inflation-adjusted oil prices are still expensive by historical standards and as the economy picks up steam, they are likely to make true recovery difficult. Unfortunately, there seems to be little in place to prevent another summer like that of 2008.

It’s been a pleasure blogging alongside with the other great voices of Generation O. Thanks to Newsweek for organizing everything and especially to Aku, our wonderful editor, for keeping everything running smoothly. If you’d like to continue following along with me, please visit my blog, Extraordinary Observations, a journal of progressive politics, economics, and urbanism. And don’t forget to subscribe to the feed!

-Rob

For all of the clamor around the issue of universal healthcare, it’s easy to forget that we already have universal coverage in this country… sort of. Every American over the age of 65 is eligible for health coverage via the federal government’s single payer system.

Medicare is hugely popular amongst its constituents and the system benefits from a powerful lobbying force (the AARP). It has friends on both ends of the political spectrum and from all over the country. Even George W. Bush put some political capital on the line to extend prescription drug benefits to seniors in 2005.

Of course, seniors have little to gain from supporting Obama’s health care reform proposals, they already have what they need. And young people just don’t seem to think Medicare is such a great idea. What’s behind the discrepancy in opinion? Kevin Drum suggests that seniors love Medicare because they experience it first hand, but young people have had to listen to years of conservative pundits and politicians trash Medicare and everything like it. It’s certainly a plausible theory.

Consider asking yourself why Grandpa and Grandma are entitled to universal health care while Generation O is not. Part of me thinks they just want it a lot more.

-Rob

As President Obama held his news conference on Wednesday night regarding the status of health care reform, all the major networks covered the hour-long event except for one: Fox.

Now, some are outraged, but I understand why a network would make this decision. Fox has a popular show, So You Think You Can Dance, that Americans want to watch; and as long as all the other networks are giving airtime to the President, Fox has a virtual monopoly on non-President primetime programming. If they opted to show the press conference, they would be sharing programming with every other major network and a handful of cable stations.

Of course, Fox’s decision also illustrates the fact that there are a significant number of Americans who prefer to watch a reality show about a dancing competition than President Obama discuss one of the most important and pressing issues of the time. Some might be apathetic, others burned out from all of the health care coverage, plenty might find the press conference plain boring.

Do networks have a responsibility or an obligation to devote themselves to covering the President? I don’t know. It would be nice if enough Americans cared about these issues (and they should, considering that tens of millions are either uninsured or underinsured) that networks wanted to provide the coverage in response to demand. It’s the middle of the summer, so most networks don’t have anything good to put on the air anyway. I imagine the temptation should grow even stronger as the fall television season begins in a few months.

-Rob

Christopher Beam has a nice article about President Obama’s devotion to community colleges across the country. If he gets what he wants, America’s community college system will be a few billion bucks better off. It’s a noble endeavor, and alone it isn’t enough.

As Beam notes, community colleges face a serious lack of respect. At the private high school that I attended, the local community college was perceived as a last resort; the place where kids who couldn’t or wouldn’t apply to a four-year college would go, so that the high school could retain its statistic that 99% of graduates go on to college. Essentially, attending a community college was seen as somehow shameful and an admission of failure.

Looking back, it really seems too bad that is had to be that way. Now that many of my peers are graduating into unemployment with tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt on their backs, the value of overlooked community colleges is clearer than ever.

President Obama’s commitment is a good first step, not just monetarily, but in helping to crush the stigma that community college is a place for people that can’t do any better. He might not have attended a community college himself, but if Obama successfully sells the idea of these institutions as respectable places to get an education, it could be a real game-changer in higher education.

-Rob

Last week I took the opportunity to travel to Washington DC and join hundreds of fellow members of Generation O at the annual Campus Progress National Conference. Since this was my first year attending, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. The lineup of speakers and guests looked phenomenal, so I knew the event had promise. Ultimately, Campus Progress exceeded nearly every expectation I had for this gathering of enthusiastic young people.

My alarm clock sounded early on Wednesday morning. The weather was pleasant and sunny as I made my way to the conference. When I arrived at the Omni Shoreham hotel I found my way to the check-in tables filled with hundreds of Campus Progress nametags. I grabbed the one with my name and was handed a tote bag with some conference materials and a t-shirt. Finally, I made my way down the hall to the main ballroom for breakfast.

The morning session featured a few brief introductions and a very entertaining performance by spoken word artist Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai. I particularly enjoyed the subsequent conversation between Daniella Gibbs Leger and John Podesta. Having read Podesta’s book recently, it was interesting to hear his take on many of the issues now facing the Obama administration.

By 10:30 we broke into smaller groups for panel discussions. I opted to attend the panel on college affordability, since it is a topic I have written about and something that I find personally concerning. Most individuals in the room seemed to agree that that federal aid is insufficient and the loan process is confusing and often misleading. It was somewhat shocking to hear other students talk about how much debt they have accumulated over their few years in college. It certainly isn’t a topic that is openly discussed very often, and unfortunately, that is a big part of the problem.

By the time I returned to the main ballroom for lunch, I found a catered buffet packed end to end with Tex-Mex style food - everything from tacos to chips and salsa to guacamole. Considering that I was expecting typical conference fare, sandwiches or pasta, the lunch was certainly a pleasant surprise. Campus Progress did an awesome job catering the conference, and the person or persons in charge of food deserve special praise.

The lunch session kicked off with another incredibly talented spoken word artist, followed by a keynote address by White House special advisor Van Jones. I knew about Jones from this profile in the New Yorker and his appearance on PBS’s NOW. Jones’s message is compelling in that he makes a convincing case for green energy from a non-traditional point of view. Even if you aren’t a typical environmentalist, there are plenty of good reasons to support the cause. Although I didn’t win one of the signed copies of Van Jones’s book being raffled away, I do plan on picking up a copy to read in the near future.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius took the stage next. Aside from a verbal gaffe (calling the conference ‘Campus Project’ instead of ‘Campus Progress’) the Secretary gave a nice little presentation about the administration’s goals for health care policy.

John Prendergast and Joel Madden of Good Charlotte wrapped up the lunch session with a conversation about violence in the developing world. If there was one take-away, it is that all of the electronics we use, from laptops and cell-phones, are helping to fuel rebel violence in countries that produce the raw materials used to make the components. And sadly, there aren’t any companies that have clean hands. Admittedly, this wasn’t a topic I knew much about before the conversation, but it is something I plan to explore more deeply.

I chose the ‘Threat Assessment’ panel discussion after lunch. The panel included Heather Hurlburt, Matthew Yglesias, Reuben Brigety, Jamie Fly, and Emira Woods, and in my opinion, was excellent. The speakers made the point that they were pleasantly surprised at the number of young people interested in hearing and talking about international issues. Jamie Fly was the token conservative on the panel, and he was simply outnumbered. With an audience not very sympathetic to his point of view, it was easy to see how it could be a frustrating position for him to be in. Nevertheless, there was quite a bit of good back and forth on typically contentious foreign policy issues.

The closing session opened with a conversation with John Oliver from The Daily Show. As much as I enjoy his show, I haven’t watched since before the presidential election, and Oliver reminded me exactly what I was missing. One point the comedian really tried to stress was that what the Daily Show does not and should not be considered news or journalism in any way. If it is better than the stuff that’s on cable TV, then that’s an insult those stations and programs, not a compliment to the Daily Show. I definitely agree.

Of course, the two biggest names, Nancy Pelosi and Bill Clinton, were saved for the end. On the one hand, I’ve seen both of these individuals speak so many times on TV and the internet that I wasn’t sure the material would be particularly unique or exciting. On the other hand, I’d never seen either of them in person and both speakers did a good job of knowing the audience. I imagine that it’s easy to do when nearly everyone is about the same age and subscribes to a similar political ideology. It also makes for a very different style of speaking than what you might see on TV.

After President Clinton’s keynote presentation, Campus Progress hosted an amazing catered gathering out on the back patio of the Omni Shoreham.

This brief report doesn’t begin to do justice to the quality of the speakers and the atmosphere at the conference. Like I said, just about every aspect exceeded my expectations. Everyone at Campus Progress deserves a great deal of thanks for organizing and executing such a great event. The biggest disappointment was that there was so much to do and so little time. Even though I spent nearly twelve hours at the event, it felt like I could have easily spent twice as much time. The panel discussions I attended, in particular, only scratched the surface of their respective topics, and some of the speakers only had time for a handful of audience questions.

It was great to be around so many energetic members of Generation O. I hope that Campus Progress can keep up the good work for many years to come.

-Rob

When I was growing up in Euclid, Ohio, around this time of year I often heard the locals brag about how Euclid had the best fireworks display around. Some people attributed it to the suburb’s cultural history; others believed it had to do with the mayor’s affection for colorful explosives. Whatever the case, the annual Independence Day event was something that thousands looked forward to.

So it was disappointing to come across this article in a major newspaper about Euclid’s decision to cancel their fireworks display this year. At the same time, I can’t help but wonder: in these unprecedented economic times, is it patriotic to forgo Independence Day celebrations if it means saving a few city workers or valuable services?

According to the mayor’s estimate, a city like Euclid would spend about $150,000 on a fireworks display that will last for a single evening. Of course, that doesn’t mean there won’t be celebrations, but fireworks are, unfortunately, a very expensive form of entertainment. Many people are understandably upset, but with cities struggling to make ends meet, we shouldn’t be quick to judge their commitment to patriotism. After all, while some see fireworks, others see the municipal budget literally going up in smoke.

-Rob

With the economy still rocky it seems to have become popular to dig around for instances of government “wasting taxpayer time and money” and exploit it. For instance, in the past few weeks I’ve heard President Obama criticized for the following reasons:

• He shouldn’t be wasting taxpayer money flying around to California, New York or Egypt on Air Force One – those plane trips are expensive.
• A president shouldn’t be taking breaks in the middle of the day to get lunch for his staff – there are interns for those chores.
• Obama is spending too much time with his kids and the dog that he should be using to solve the financial crisis, dealing with Iran, getting us our of Iraq, etc.

Now, my intention is not to defend inefficiency and waste; but sometimes it seems like we can be quick to forget that we elected a human, not a robot. Obama is still a father and a husband. Like every working person, he surely enjoys time off on the weekends and the occasional vacation. Yes, he gets to travel in limousines and on a private jet, something that most people dream about; but I doubt the secret service would be comfortable letting the President aboard a commercial flight or the subway, anyway

Admittedly, there are policy positions that the administration has taken that are worthy of dissent, including some where the aministration is simply in the wrong. But there is certainly a difference between criticizing our leaders on these issues rather than nitpcking everyday events that aren’t out of the ordinary for American presidents.

-Rob

When Slate published a recap of Obama’s first hundred days in the format of a Facebook news feed, I thought the idea was pretty goofy – maybe even meant as a clever joke. I certainly never imagined using it to actually keep up with current events. If you haven’t seen it before, check out the most recent feature.

I realize that plenty of people aren’t news junkies like the bloggers here at Generation O. Some don’t have the time to read newspapers or blogs everyday. Others might not think it matters. But it seems like a rudimentary knowledge of the news could be useful in so many situations; and in light of a new Pew Research report that shows young people as embarrassingly uninformed, I’m starting to believe that anything that can help fill people in should be given a chance. If that means presenting news as if it were a Facebook feed, that’s OK with me.

Perhaps the beauty of what the authors have created is something combines inside jokes that only the most informed would understand with basic events that would be beneficial to those who have never picked up a newspaper.

-Rob

During the election season it was frustrating (even a little obnoxious) to listen to the many claims that Obama is a Muslim. Nevertheless, I figured the problem was twofold: first, some people were simply ignorant and once they learned the truth would accept it; second, some people knew the truth but knew the lie could be politically useful in attracting voters to John McCain. Now that Obama is our 44th President, you would think the lies and deception would have ceased.

And to some extent it has, but a Pew Research survey taken in April found that the number of Americans holding the belief is basically unchanged from before the election; and now evidence suggests that trying to convince some people of the truth only reinforces the false belief.

This isn’t a question, of course, of whether it would be somehow unacceptable to have a Muslim as President of the United States. This is a disturbing instance in which a significant number of Americans do not know the basic truth about Barack Obama nor are they willing to accept it when informed.

-Rob