When looking at the news online, I came across a website explaining Obama's first steps towards saving our financial crisis. His plan includes making a huge investment in America's infrastructure, as part of a master plan to create 2.5 million jobs. In the long run, this plan will improve schools, reduce the country's dependence on foreign oil, and save billions of dollars. His future plans also include making public buildings more energy efficient by installing better light bulbs and replacing old heating systems.
Yesterday I read a chapter from Howard Zinn, which described the removal of Indians under the earlier presidents. Zinn mentioned Ralph Waldo Emerson, an author we've been deeply studying. The chapter mentioned the letter Emerson wrote to current president Martin Van Buren, in deep disapproval of his removal treaty with the Cherokees. Emerson went so far as to question the justice in America.
Reading about Emerson's opinions led me to wonder what he would have thought about newly elected president Barack Obama. It's hard to say, but I would argue Emerson would like Obama a lot. Obama's plan looks towards the future, but focuses on the present, on what we need now, something both Emerson and his apprentice Thoreau preached. I think that Emerson also would have appreciated Obama's simple and direct plan that gets at the heart of America's problems. There's no way of knowing for sure, but I think Emerson would have liked Obama and respected his ideas.
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