What I want to see in the next four years

Expectations of Barack Obama are outrageously high. And he has inherited the odd mess from his predecessor. Some quick thoughts of things I want him to do.

• Fight earmarks and pork in congress. I'm really worried about this one, and I expect Obama to utterly fail here.
• Leave in a responsible fashion from Iraq. And continue to support their government as needed. We shouldn't repeat the mistakes of our exits from Iran and Vietnam.
• Beef up NASA and/or provide more incentives for the commercial exploration of space. The US space budget is an embarrassing pittance and that needs to change.
• Push alternatives to oil and coal. That does not include use of Ethanol (fertilizer and third world destruction of jungles will soar) but rather methods like solar, wind, and even safe nuclear.
• Cut back on the military in the right way. There are any number of really pricey programs over budget that are already obsolescent. For example, why are we still dumping money into the manned JSF when UAVs are clearly the way to go?!?
• Put money into Education, and make damned sure the money goes to teacher salaries.
• Find a way to get colleges/universities to drop their increasing rates of tuition.