By Hail Hamilton

Eight weeks is not enough time to judge a new president. But it is time enough to make some observations. If I sound overly critical it’s because I am concerned about the nature, magnitude and urgency of the challenges facing the new administration. Here’s some advice I have for President Obama:

• I support the recent omnibus stimulus bill, but I don’t think it’s nearly enough to fill the more than $3 trillion hole in our economy. Even after its passage the economy continues its rapid decline. What is needed is more federal spending not less and that money should be directed at rebuilding our decaying infrastructure and to financially strapped states, cities and school districts. We should be stimulating consumer demand by creating new jobs for Main Street—not creating new wealth for Wall Street.

• The Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan should be ended now—redirecting money from one failed state to another is money that could be better spent at elsewhere. Moreover, the whole Global War on Terror should be reevaluated. The current tactics and strategies are not working. We have more terrorists aligned against us today than we did on 9-11. Furthermore, by stretching our military so thinly abroad, we are limiting our resources to defend the nation at home against threats like the escalating violent drug war in Mexico that is spilling over our southern border.

• All “enemy combatants” should be charged, tried, sentenced or released. And this should be done in open federal court with all the safeguards the Constitution provides. Those that are guilty of plotting against the United States should be incarcerated in federal prison. Those that are not guilty should be immediately released and sent home. Gitmo and all the other US-sponsored “detention camps” should be closed and torn down. Their very existence is a black mark on our name as a free nation and leader of the free world.

• The Patriot Act should be immediately repealed and thrown on the junk-heap of history where it belongs. There is no place for such draconian measures in a free society. It doesn’t matter what the crisis may be, the Bill of Rights is the great bulwark against tyranny. It also doesn’t matter that past presidents have tried to elude the Constitution while “defending” the nation; the oath they take upon becoming president is to “preserve, protect and defend” the Constitution, not to circumvent it.

• Federal and international laws against committing war crimes and crimes against humanity should be strictly enforced. Anyone in the previous administration, regardless of their rank, who ordered, encouraged or in any way allowed the use of torture against persons in the custody of the United States or held overseas at our request should be investigated and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. I would begin with George Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, John Ashcroft, and Alberto Gonzalez.

• Universal single-payer healthcare should mean just that—all Americans should have access to state of the art healthcare. This doesn’t mean “socialized medicine;” it means that the cost healthcare would be paid from our taxes like Medicare and Medicaid. Money would no longer change hands between health providers and patients. More importantly, the cost of illness would be spread among the whole population. Quality healthcare is just too expensive and access to it too limited to continue with the current system.

• Finally, the looting of the Social Security Trust Fund by the federal government to help “balance” its budget must immediately stop. Cooking the books on the backs of retirees and the disabled is both wrong and misleading. The fact is that Social Security has run a surplus every year since it began in 1936. The problem is that ever since the Vietnam War the government has been increasingly “borrowing” from the fund to help pay for other programs and not paying back the money it borrows. It’s time to put a lock on the Social Security Trust Fund box.

My advice to President Obama could be more, but I think my few recommendations are a good start. Mr. Obama you were elected on a platform of change. You promised a new American revolution. It’s time to deliver.