Obama's #1 priority should be...

[Michael]

What do you think Obama's legislative priority ought to be?

Please explain why you favor your choice.

[Evangeline]

Getting off Mid East oil. Clean energy. Solves two problems. Stops the USA from funding terrorists through oil money AND helps save the planet.

[dilettante]

IMO he needs to resolve the Gitmo/Torture with finality and rapidity.

I feel like a sharp break here will let him wash his hands of the Bush legacy and really embrace all his hope/change rhetoric, whereas a stumble here will quickly mire him in the past.

Furthermore, I think issues such as healthcare, taxation, and climate control should all be considered open for debate, discussion, and even compromise between various popular factions. If, on the hand, Obama plans to stick with his rhetoric on torture, then it should not be considered a debatable issue. He needs to formulate a plan, get his Congressional majority in line, and make it happen.

[The Drunk Guy]

IMO he needs to resolve the Gitmo/Torture with finality and rapidity.

I feel like a sharp break here will let him wash his hands of the Bush legacy and really embrace all his hope/change rhetoric, whereas a stumble here will quickly mire him in the past.

Furthermore, I think issues such as healthcare, taxation, and climate control should all be considered open for debate, discussion, and even compromise between various popular factions. If, on the hand, Obama plans to stick with his rhetoric on torture, then it should not be considered a debatable issue. He needs to formulate a plan, get his Congressional majority in line, and make it happen.
I agree that Gitmo has to go. He's made a line in the sand, Congress stepped over it, and now he has to show the strength that got him elected.

That said, I voted to reducing spending. Sorry, but I'm a Constitutionalist at heart. ;) Also, I think the "torture" is over. Now it's just illegal holding.

[Michael]

I agree that Gitmo has to go. He's made a line in the sand, Congress stepped over it, and now he has to show the strength that got him elected.
Obama drew a line in the sand on Gitmo? When? Where?

I see only Bush policies there.

[phungus420]

Nothing else can really get done until we get our budget in order, and that requires raising taxes. Of course at the medium income level, taxes are fine, and even at the top bracket it's close to where it needs to be (though it probably could be bumped 5 - 15% for the 200K earners). What really needs to get done is to add a couple more tax brakets, 1M 50-60% bracket, and a 90% braket for those earning over 10M. Remove the incentive to steal from the corporation you work for, and you'll see a lot less pilfering. Also I hold any income above 10M going to one person, is from an economic standpoint a waste, that capitol will move and further stimulate the economy far more efficiently if it was distributed by government programs, or invested back into capital. This goes along with another priority the US government should take, a clamp down on corporate exacutives. Basically require a shareholder vote on any compensation earned that goes over 10times the median wage earned by the corps employees. I've never understood why it's legal for coporate boards to in effect vote themeselves the right to pilfer the coffers of the companies they work for, and hell this practice is now SOP for corporate executives, makes no sense...

[Evangeline]

The tax cut for the rich will expire next year and it won't be renewed.

[The Drunk Guy]

Obama drew a line in the sand on Gitmo? When? Where?

I see only Bush policies there.
Not literally. But it was no surprise (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article5506559.ece). The Dem congress had plenty of time to support him.

[Greendruid]

I chose climate change. All the imaginary money in the world isn't going to make the world grow back its oil, water and resources that took thousands to millions of years to get there. There will be no economy to worry about if we don't put full stop brakes to the wasteful way we do things with energy and resources.

[Non Sequitur]

torture needs to stop.

[Michael]

torture needs to stop.
Yes, I think this issue stands alone and is entirely outside the realm of domestic politics or partisanship. It is a state-level moral failing and will just grow like a cancer until it consumes/destroys the state.

It must be addressed, identified and eliminated now. It is imperative.

[Dominick]

Other : put and end to American imperialism bringing democracy to the oppressed peoples.

Ok, it's not going to happen.