Obama on public service
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President Barack Obama unveiled a new summer service campaign called United We Serve on his administration’s ambitious website to connect people with volunteer opportunities anywhere in the nation. And my commentary on what dangerous trends Obama is reacting to.
This effort to make Americans more aware of the need for public service is nothing new for a president in office. What is, arguably, is that same web-savy grassroots awareness and activism that invigorated so much of his campaign. Those visiting the site can upload their own needs for volunteers in a searchable database covering the whole nation. (I checked by the way-opportunities from Nome, AK to Key West, FL).
The primary focuses for this effort are in education, health care and environmentally “green” technologies; basically the domestic areas in which we face huge problems. Within education, Obama calls for more mentors perhaps because he grew up in a household without his father who left when Obama (the younger) was 2.
So how does Obama lead up to Father’s Day? By extolling adults to be mentors for youth alongside celebrities like Dwyane Wade and Tony Hawk of course.
Anyway below are Obama’s comments from Serve.gov about difficulties he hopes millions of volunteers can address interspersed with my editorial comments on what I think the subtext is.
“The challenges we face are unprecedented in their size and scope, and we cannot rely on quick fixes or easy answers to put us on the road to recovery. In this new century, we need to a build a new foundation for economic growth in America.”
Read: I know you know about your own personal economic woes but do you think about what the US is facing now and decades down the road like I do 24/7? Have you read or seen any of the material hypothesizing major paradigmatic changes? The global economy-see “The World is Flat”; health care-“Fast Food Nation” among many others; environment- you guessed it, Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth”.
“My Administration has already begun this work with dramatic new investments in education, health care and clean energy – investments that will create new jobs and lay the foundation for lasting prosperity.”
Read: Due to major negligence and lack of foresight in these areas we as a nation are sinking in quicksand on a scale that threatens not just our status as global hegemon but our ability to take care of our own non-working population (as a result of lack of education, retirement, disabilities, incarceration, etc.). We have to find something to stand on just to stop the sinking.
“But we cannot do this alone here in Washington. We can rebuild our schools, but we need people to be mentors and tutors in those schools. We can modernize our health care system, but we need volunteers in our hospitals and communities to help care for the sick and help people lead healthier lives. We can invest in clean energy, but we need people to use energy-efficient products in their homes and train for the green jobs of the future.”
Read: Teach someone else what you know. Think about how the well-being of the person next to you may affect you and what you pay to help those who need help. Start caring about your environmental footprint.
“Economic recovery is as much about what you’re doing in your communities as what we’re doing in Washington – and it’s going to take all of us, working together.”
Read: You know what I have to work with up here in Washington. You know I need your help.
