A Fresh Start

(01/02/09) In our series "A Fresh Start," we're asking leading thinkers to share their thoughts on what Barack Obama's administration should be paying attention to as the president-elect takes office this month. In his public appearances, Obama has been known to quote poetry and harken back to his school music teacher. He likes the works of Stevie Wonder, Toni Morrison and Ernest Hemingway. Obama formed a national arts committee as part of his presidential campaign, to the delight of Heather Hitchens, Executive Director of the New York State Council on the Arts. Not usually a hot-button topic in presidential politics, Obama has issued a comprehensive statement in support of arts and arts education in the U.S. Hitchens says she's hopeful that Obama will be true to his pledge of support for arts education.

(12/01/08) In our series "A Fresh Start," we're asking leading thinkers to share their thoughts on what Barack Obama's administration should be paying attention to as the president-elect takes office in January.

Dr. Daniel Sullivan is president of St. Lawrence University in Canton. St. Lawrence is part of a cadre of schools, many small, many in the East, that carry the label "private liberal arts." It's a brand that's been challenged by charges of elitism as tuition and fees rise to 30, 40, 50 thousand dollars, and challenged by a changing vision, particularly under the Bush Administration, toward career- and "outcome-" driven education. Two years ago, Sullivan wrote strong and detailed responses to that vision as it was laid out in the Bush Spellings Commission report on higher education. The report concluded that higher education in America, "has become what, in the business world, would be called a mature enterprise: increasingly risk-averse, at times self-satisfied, and unduly expensive."

Sullivan called the report "negative and cynical," "a national embarrassment," and wrote its reforms "will inevitably lead toward a cafeteria, grab and go undergraduate education lacking in coherence and depth." He told Martha Foley he has several ideas for the new administration (not surprisingly) very different from those of the current one. Dr. Sullivan is currently chair of the Association of American Colleges and Universities.

(11/25/08) We've been hearing a lot about President-elect Barack Obama's economic team. They face some huge hurdles this winter, as they work to steady America's wobbly economy. As part of our series, A Fresh Start, we checked in with John Bogle, who spends much of each year in Lake Placid. In the 1970s, Bogle launched the Vanguard Group of investment funds. In recent years, he's emerged as one of the country's leading investment ethicists, authoring books that include The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism. Bogle told Brian Mann that Obama's first challenge will be speaking honestly with the American people and restoring consumer confidence.

(11/24/08) President-elect Barack Obama has a lot of challenges waiting for him when he takes office in January. But official relations between the US and Canada are in relatively good shape. The two countries have partnered closely in recent years on domestic security, the war in Afghanistan, and international trade. Still, many Canadians have been eager for a change in Washington, on issues ranging from the economy to global warming. As part of our series, A Fresh Start, Brian Mann spoke with Dr. Christopher Kirkey, who heads the Center for the Study of Canada at SUNY Plattsburgh.

(11/21/08) President-elect Barack Obama says he'll close Guantanamo Bay, ban torture, and begin a withdrawal of U.S. soldiers from Iraq. Peace and social justice activist Martha Swan, from Westport, says she welcomes those moves. But as part of our series, "A Fresh Start," Swan told Brian Mann that Obama should think much bigger about changing America's role in the world and our relationship with other countries.

(11/19/08) There are approximately 1.7 million veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The largest group that represents them says President-Elect Barack Obama needs to listen to the "boots-on-the-ground" truth about veterans' health care. We continue "A Fresh Start," our series of recommendations for the Obama Adminsitration, with Todd Bowers of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. He's also a marine staff sergeant who served two tours of duty in Iraq. Bowers told David Sommerstein Congress has made hundreds of recommendations to better help veterans since the neglect scandal at Walter Reed almost two years ago. But he says most of those are gathering dust on shelves. He says the Obama Administration must implement them.

(11/18/08) President-elect Barack Obama takes office on January 20th. We've asking people to think big about what his Administration might accomplish. J.W. Wiley teaches philosophy and interdisciplinary studies at Plattsburgh State and is the Director of the Center for Diversity, Pluralism and Inclusion. He's an African American who works as a diversity consultant for major corporations. Wiley says Barack Obama's election has already redefined America's conversation about race and social injustice.

(11/17/08) We're asking people to think big, for the Obama Administration. Michael Shuman thinks big, about small things: small business, local economies. He's brought his ideas about local economies to North Country sustainability symposiums. His books include Going Local: Creating Self-reliant Communities in a Global Age, and The Small-mart Revolution - how Local Businesses are Beating the Global Competition. As an economist, Shuman speaks the language of high finance, but applies it to the most local of transactions. He's proposing a massive DE-regulation of microfinance, while the rest of the world is focused on increasing regulation on macrofinance. In conversation with Martha Foley, Shuman said the most important thing the Obama Administration needs to understand is that revitalizing America's economy requires revitalizing the Main Street economy.

(11/14/08) This week we're asking the country's most compelling thinkers for their recommendations for president-elect Barack Obama. Our series, "A Fresh Start," continues today with a provocative take on kindergarten through 12th grade education. Deborah Meier is widely considered one of America's foremost education experts. She's started highly innovative and successful schools in New York City and Boston. She lives south of Albany now. Meier believes the rigid standards and tests of "No Child Left Behind" have left teachers powerless in schools. She says the federal program has to be replaced with a "Marshall plan" for the development of a large, well-educated teaching force. Meier told David Sommerstein the world of education has to step back and ask fundamental questions about the relevance of school to childrens' lives.

(11/13/08) North Country Public Radio is airing a new series of interviews called "A Fresh Start." We've asked some of the country's most compelling thinkers to make recommendations for president-elect Barack Obama. Healthcare is one of the top items on the national agenda. There are tens of millions of Americans without insurance. Many experts say skyrocketing healthcare costs are crippling the country's industries. Dr. John Rugge is head of the Hudson Headwaters Health Network, based in Glens Falls. He told Brian Mann that the government will have to play a bigger role in healthcare, reinventing the industry and picking up more of the costs.

(11/12/08) North Country Public Radio is airing a new series of interviews called "A Fresh Start." We've asked some of the country's most compelling thinkers to make recommendations for president-elect Barack Obama. One of the thorniest issues facing American society is religious faith. Our nation is a tapestry of different religions and different churches. Episcopal priest and activist George Nagle from Saranac Lake says he thinks religion can play a healthier role in our political debates. Father Nagle told Brian Mann that the faith community should urge Barack Obama to think about a different slate of top issues.

(11/11/08) This week, we're airing a series of interviews called "A Fresh Start." We've asked some of the country's most compelling thinkers to make recommendations for president-elect Barack Obama. One of the big questions that will face the new administration is the environment and climate change. Back in 1989, author and activist Bill McKibben wrote The End of Nature, one of the first major books about global warming. McKibben spends part of each year in Johnsburg, in the Adirondacks. But he met with Brian Mann yesterday on a suburban street in Rutland, Vermont. With automobiles chugging past and a hailstorm sweeping over the Green Mountains, McKibben said Obama's election offers a chance for real action.

(11/10/08) Today we begin a week-long series called "A Fresh Start." We've asked some big thinkers to make recommendations for president-elect Barack Obama on key issues for the North Country. Our first is agriculture, an issue that rarely came up during the presidential campaign. Wes Jackson is a nationally recognized advocate of a new food and farm policy based on crop diversity rather than monocultures of corn, soybeans, and wheat. He's founder and president of The Land Institute, based in Kansas. Jackson will speak at Clarkson University Thursday at noon and at Gardenshare's annual dinner Thursday night at 6 in Canton. Jackson told David Sommerstein he was heartened to read an interview with Obama in Time Magazine. Obama said he was paying attention to the work of Jackson's fellow food reform advocate, Michael Pollen, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma.