I usually don’t agree with Joe Klein or Time magazine. Heck, let’s be honest: I hardly ever agree with Joe Klein and fully believe that Time magazine is generally full of liberal ideals and opinions. But, in his column in the June 25, 2007 issue, Klein hits a number of nails squarely on the head. The column is titled "The Courage Primary" and, in it, Klein discusses a valid point about the 2008 elections. Specifically, he observes that the American populace is dead serious in approaching this important election. We have all been guilty of playing partisan hardball for the past 20 years. We have voted in elections fundamentally by party and little else. Conservatives (read WASPs) vote Republican; liberals (read minorities, unions, most young people) vote Democratic. We didn’t care who was running or what they said they would do as much as we cared about what we thought they would do, based on their party’s platform. All that has changed.

With America’s free-falling standing in the world and the dissatisfaction (gas prices, border security, immigration, et cetera) at home - 70% are unhappy with the direction in which America is going - voters are looking very critically at candidates this time around. I agree with Klein - even though he doesn’t specifically make this point - that the voters will not care as much about what their favorite pundits say about the candidates as they will about which candidates can speak to them and their personal concerns. And, as Klein notes, just saying the usual things about the same issues ain’t going to get it done.

The voters are becoming sophisticated enough, for the most part, to know when they hear the same, tired old sound bites. "We have to end poverty in our time!" isn’t going to whip the Democratic voters into their usual frenzy. "We have to have a strong military in these dangerous times!" is not going to get the Republican faithful clamoring to the voting booth. America has real problems and, this time around, we all need to realize that. We all need to put aside this party catfight we have been involved in for the past quarter century and do what’s best for the country. It’s not about the past history of political parties and their candidates. Its come down to "we, the people" and what is going to turn this country around.

In his article, Klein lays out his 5-point "dream agenda" by which he says he will judge any candidate. The five things most important to him, of course, are not necessarily the things that ring your bells. But, you get the idea. We, as voters need to spend a great deal of time over the next 16 months and write out our own individual "platforms." What is important to you? Are you a young parent with school age children? Then, education reform should be high on your list. Are you middle-aged and your children grown and out on their own? Then national security and immigration might be your top issue. Are you a lower- or middle-income individual or head of family, fighting each day to take care of your dependents? Health care might rank higher on your list. The point is, think about what is important to you and yours and then start listening to what the candidates are saying. Not the talking heads on the television (whether you watch Fox News or CNN) but the candidates, themselves.

With the internet so accessible these days, you have access to the speeches the candidates are giving, word for word. You don’t need someone (forget the "Hey, they are on TV so they must be smarter than me!" argument - it just isn’t true) to predigest the words of the candidates for you to understand what they mean. And while it is true that candidates don’t always end up doing what they say they will do in the pre-election chatter-fest, you can read between the lines to get a valuable "gut feeling" about what the candidates are truly thinking.

Let me give you one example. I like Barack Obama. I think he is a perfect candidate for these times. He is young, bright and extremely charismatic. He is, in a word, a born leader. I was recently somewhat taken aback, though, when in a speech he compared the Los Angeles riots that followed the acquittals of the police in the Rodney King debacle to the black reaction to Katrina in New Orleans. He offered the sound bite "the quiet riot" which is going on in America today. He implied that the country was a police shooting or a white-black transgression away from full scale black violence. He suggested that black people in this country are similar to (my metaphor, not his) Mount St. Helens - ready to erupt. His was quoted as saying:

"Those 'quiet riots' that take place every day are born from the same place as the fires and the destruction and the police decked out in riot gear and the deaths," Obama said. "They happen when a sense of disconnect settles in and hope dissipates. Despair takes hold and young people all across this country look at the way the world is and believe that things are never going to get any better."

I, personally, didn’t agree with this direction for a political speech, admittedly it was directed at a predominantly black audience at Hampton University. But, then I am just a white guy who is totally unfamiliar with poverty in the black community. Nevertheless, I thought about this speech a great deal. And I have made some mental notes about what it might mean to an Obama Presidency. For now, I will keep them to myself.

The point is: we should all be doing the same sort of analysis. Evert week or so, go to the candidates web sites and read a speech or two. Better still, if CSPAN is covering a speech live for an important candidate - some are, some aren’t; Dennis Kucinich is not - watch and listen. It will give you your "gut feeling." And, fellow voters, our guts will lead our votes.

Back to Joe Klein: He lists these 5 points for evaluating candidates:

• Foreign Policy and National Security
• Energy Independence
• Universal Health Insurance
• Education
• National Service

You can read his views and his ideas on Time.com. Here are mine, in nutshell format:

1. Foreign Policy and National Security: I partially agree with Klein in that we need to be more diplomatic in our ever shrinking world. In my opinion, the U.N. serves no dependable purpose other than a forum for airing our ideas. We should use it as a coffee shop. Meet and greet, float our policy balloons and see who may or may not be on our side. Then, start the real work. Talk to the nations we need to help us implement our policies. We should work very hard to establish closer ties to India, Russia, and China. These are the big boys on the block and they are the ones from whom we need cooperation - implicit or real. Forget France, Germany and the remainder of the E.U. They are forever out of our sphere of influence and, further, they are of little real value. NATO is a paper agreement, not worth the ink written on it. Our friends, England and Japan, need a pat on the back every now and them and continued close ties. Africa? Well, Africa is Africa. Tangible progress against the genocide and the poverty there is a tough nut to crack because of the prevailing culture. Low priority, unlikely return on investment. Certainly, continue to fight against "conflict diamonds." Support, as best we can afford, those countries that show signs of emerging from dictatorship.

2. Education: This is one of my "hot button" issues and I consider it quite personal. We need to play hardball with the NEA and AFT. Once and for all, we need to press for Charter Schools, pay raises for teachers - wait, before you scream - who earn them by exceptional teaching or service in an inner city or poorly performing school. As for the teachers in general, the days of tenure and union-protected jobs for incompetents must end. We need to make it an easier process to fire incompetent and poorly invested teachers. It shouldn’t cost a school district $150,000 and 12-18 months to dismiss a non-performing teacher. I don’t care what the unions think or how they vote. And, one final spitball: We need to have the property taxes collected to support school districts and have them sent straight to the state Department of Education. These funds, in turn, should be distributed to school districts equally, irrespective of what district residents contribute to the coffers. If you live in a $25,000 house and pay X dollars in property taxes, the state should spend just as much educating your child as the family who lives in a $250,000 house and pays 5X dollars in property taxes. End of story. Sorry you don’t like it.

3. National Service: All for it. Every high school graduate should spend 2 years after graduation in service to his country. Period. This does not mean everyone should be in the military. As a matter of fact, probably few should. It would take a quarter of the 2 years just to "coach ‘em up" to the level of a competent soldiers. But students can serve their country in myriad ways. They can be tutors and help out in local schools. They can be at the borders screening entrants into the country. They can walk a patrol at the border or a city street. They can assist in national park maintenance. They can have a whole range of selections for service. The point is not to drum up cheap labor for the nation. The point is service and investment in their country’s welfare and improvement.

4. Universal Health Insurance: Not a priority with me other than to say no child - birth to 16, 18 if they are in school - should be without easy access to health care. Ever. As for the nuts and bolts of insuring everyone, I am still waiting on an idea that will not mean a revival of Max Gammon’s law. [see previous posts, "Right versus Privileges: Parts 1-3"]

5. Energy dependence: Problem, yes. Imminent threat? No. I'll walk to work if necessary. Should we work and innovate for less dependence on petroleum? Absolutely. Sign Kyoto Protocol as it currently stands? No. ‘Nuff Said.

There you have my ideas. I will be watching closely to see who comes closest to my concepts of where this nation should be headed. Candidates, I will be watching and listening. Slip ups are OK. But try to be bold. Try to be imaginative. Take a stand. Don’t serve me watered-down pablum, especially if you think I am stupid; I am sick to death of it. Don’t tell me what you think I want to hear because you are probably wrong. Stick your neck out. Don’t tell me America can’t be fixed, because I know it can.