I could barely see the podium or the big screen last week in Washington, DC. It's not because we weren't close enough to either... in fact, we were pretty darn close to the action. It's because I couldn't stop crying the whole time. From Aretha (what a hat...!) to Reverend Lowery ("Let all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen...") the experience was transformational. I was honored and excited to be able to attend, of course, but I was not prepared for the emotion of the event. I have met Mr. Obama and I've been inspired by his words on many occasions. Jennifer and I were there in Denver on that beautiful August evening when he accepted his party's nomination...

...so Martin could walk. Martin walked so Barack could run. Barack ran so our children can fly. I have no crystal ball, but I feel strongly that we are about to witness an historic evening -- an evening that, even here in the United States of Amnesia, will remain an indelible memory for all of us for the rest of our lives. Many Democrats I know will be satisfied with nothing less than a sweeping rebuke of the 28 years of conservative ascendancy. They want, and expect, not only a 10-point Obama win, but also 60 seats in the new Senate. Neither is likley to happen. At the same time, most Republicans would be ecstatic with even the narrowest margin in a McCain win. Either way, tomorrow, we will...

The great unwinding of our governmental competence is finally complete. Having mis-managed the FDA, FEMA, the SEC, the war on terrorism, the Justice Department, and US-Russia realtions, just to name a few areas, this week we failed to respond to the global economic meltdown. We failed on many fronts -- we didn't see it coming, we exacerbated a bad situation by giving the financial markets more, rather than less, freedom -- but I never expected this administration (the one that invented the term "death tax" and presented the proposal to strip away meaningful environmental protections as "The Clear Skies Initiative") to lose a battle because they framed it wrong. Really...

"The global economic crisis was barely averted today by the courageous efforts of US Presidential candidate, John McCain, who selflessly set aside his campaign -- putting country first, while rival Barack Obama practiced for a debate -- to work around the clock with a breakaway group of maverick House Republicans to get them to back the $700 billion troubled assets purchase plan first offerred over the weekend by the genius, Henry Paulson, Treaury Secretary. Senator McCain, as he has done so often in his long and storied career of public service, used his experience to reach across the aisle and single-handedly negotiate the most important piece of legislation ever acted upon by the US government...

For 4 months, I have been thinking about the best way to blog. Frankly, I have quite a bit to say, but I want very much to hear from others as well. My previous posts, I'm told, are too comprehensive and leave little opportunity for response. As you might suspect, they're also hard to write while dealing with the demands of a normal life. I am not a professional writer -- as is obvious -- and I have not yet found the process nor the needed discipline to write regular, long, high-quality posts. I approached this weekend thinking I'd try to write more frequent, shorter and more open-ended posts... inviting a great deal more response. That's what I'm doing today, but, once again...

It's April 4, 1968. Dr. King has been shot and killed in Memphis, Tennessee. A few hundred miles away, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, campaigning for the Democratic Presidential nomination, is scheduled to appear before a large crowd in a dangerous black neighborhood in Indianapolis. He is advised by his security detail not to go, but he goes anyway. On the ride to the event, he is quiet, lost in thought. Finally, the unimaginable occurs to him and he asks, "Do they know?" "No", he is told. The crowd has been gathering and waiting for many hours, they've had no way to hear the news. Bobby Kennedy realizes then that he, a white man of great privilege, will be the one to...

Our current economic model -- implemented all across the globe as the partner platform to advancing "democracy" in developing nations -- is not sustainable. The time has come for us to recognize that any model that is dependent on over-consumption and easy credit and that disproportionately rewards the rich at the expense of services for the rest cannot work over any long period of time. Capitalism alone is not the saviour of society. Since last August, the Federal Reserve Board Chair, Ben Bernanke, has told us that the "weakness" in the economy has been "contained". First, it was "contained" within the sub-prime mortgage industry. Then, in December, it...

The war is coming to a close. There are deep divisions in the US between hawks and doves, between blacks and whites, between those who want the firm hand of a central government and those who believe in the autonomy of the states, between those who support the President and those in opposition. It is 1865. In Washington, DC, March 4 of that year is gray and blustery... not exactly the kind of day Abraham Lincoln had in mind for his second inauguration. Still, with the Civil War drawing to an end, there is hope and joy among the enormous crowds -- made up of wealthy Northern businessmen, a huge contingent of the Union Army, the entire US Government... the victors. Soon, they will have triumphed...

Margot Carmichael Lester is an amazing educator, deeply involved with public school disctricts all across the US. As we approach a reassessment of "No Child Left Behind" I asked Margot to write a blog post for us on improving teaching outcomes. Margot will be a regular contributor to this space... I hope you enjoy her first post: "We know that all schools are not created equal. Some clearly benefit from better buildings, more books, more computers, and the like. But from my work as a consultant in schools across the country, I can tell you that the connection between resources and results isn’t as clear as we think. Consider an urban school district that serves primarily students...

This whole week, the folks in my office are working together to learn about freedom and history and, more specifically, civil rights and racism. Many served in the community with colleagues and family members yesterday on Martin Luther King Day -- "a day on, not a day off", as it has appropriately come to be interpreted. Today, the whole office, led by a 22 year old and prepared by a series of readings, participated in an overview of the civil rights movement and a discussion of race relations in today's world. Tomorrow, at the company's expense, a few of our folks will head to Memphis to the National Civil Rights Museum. On Thursday, those folks will lead another discussion...