I think 'bold' and 'populist' are a little like oil and water in this country. Why don't we stay positive, keep our collective eyes open and anticipate baby steps?

Could you mark up that list as a list instead of dashes and carriage returns. Would make it easier to read.

Sometimes I feel like I'm in an alternative universe. You people have got some coming down to do. The person just elected was Obama, not Nader. Obama's a fully-paid-up corporate guy. You're going to be bitterly disappointed in Obama's right-of-center policies.

Obama already makes me want to puke.

JG, your messiah, Nader, did not get it yet again. Get over it.
I'm not knocking Nader, but I think there is a point at which people become so convinced that no good can come from any member of a conventional party that their view is constantly tainted.

"JG, your messiah, Nader, did not get it yet again. Get over it."

I'm not a Nader-lover, twitbag. I merely ventured to point out that while Nader ran on a liberal platform, Obama ran on a solid-right corporate-funded GOP-standard line. I'm not sure there is anything progressive in Obama's platform.

"Not one person from labor"
Good thing too. Someone who heads up a "company" of under educated, overpaid, lazy, bottom feeders isn't needed in this group.
Unions are only in it for themselves.

Twitbag JG, what about closing tax loopholes for high profit corps is so GOP? Please elaborate on your accusation.

Nobody from labor? Maybe not anyone that is the head of a union, but David Bonier has deep ties to the labor "community" in Michigan. Also, he founded this: http://www.americanrightsatwork.org/

That's a worthy update for this post. I was struck by the lone presence of one Dept. of Labor employee but nobody that's emblematic of worker's rights.

I'm way out of my league discussing economics but I'd also note that there is no person on that list with a vested interest in addressing the presence of illegal labor and the black market in our economy.

Actually, Villaraigosa had a long career as a labor organizer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Villaraigosa

Why do you believe that "bold and populist economic thinking" would do any good at all? Why wouldn't that approach make things even worse? Populist thought is usually incoherent.

"Good thing too. Someone who heads up a "company" of under educated, overpaid, lazy, bottom feeders isn't needed in this group.
Unions are only in it for themselves."

Sounding just a *bit* elitist here kirkbrew. And most definitely over-generalizing. And I suppose you believe that those overpaid executives are "in it" for the good of the nation?

How ironic you use the phrase "Mayberry Machiavellis" in your introductory lead from the email to the site. I watched Frontline's documentary on Lee Atwater tonight, and it showed Karl Rove at one of those insider roasts they do in D.C. Rove, an Atwater protegee, tells the audience that [straw man] "People say Lee is Machiavellian. Well...he is. In the good sense of the word."

Q.: What is good about Machiavelli?