Dear Obama – if you really want ‘big challenges’

President Barack Obama in his straw man Washington Post column, claimed he had big changes coming down the pike. Well, I’m going to raise the ante on him, which won’t be that hard, since he’s not playing as big of stakes as he claims.

So, let’s go:
1. Challenge Congress to pass a public campaign finance bill for Congressional elections — including with reasonable provisions for third-party candidates;
2. Push state legislatures to pass Iowa-type nonpartisan redistricting commission legislation — that’s your Kumbaya moment, if you will, or your post-partisan moment;
3. If you really want to be daring, and do something counterintuitive, call on Congress to pass an amendment extending House terms to four years, to get the “permanent campaign” at least a little bit out of American federal politics;
4. Admit you’re wrong on “looking forward,” indefinite detention proposals you’ve made yourself and a lot of related issues, and throw your full support behind Attorney General Holder as he weighs a torture-related special prosecutor;
5. Actually use the budget reconciliation process to pass a healthcare bill — with public-payer option — through the Senate, don’t just talk about it;
6. Repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell” by executive order, just as President Truman did to desegregate the armed forces and let Congress catch up;
7. Do like Bob Herbert said, though he didn’t use this exact language, and restart the Civilian Conservation Corps or Works Projects Administration — if unions object, well, then prod Congress to pass the Employee Free Choice Act as a trade-off;
8. Instead of playing around the edges on education, learn from every other advanced nation, and get our K-12 schools to have a school year of at least 200 days, if not longer — THAT would be educational leadership of boldness.

That’s not everything, but that punches the clock on a lot of big-ticket items.