What Are You Looking Forward to in 2009?

Gloria Feldt — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:22:04 -0600

Isn't that a great question to think about at the beginning of the Brave New Year? What's your answer?

It's what Rose Aguilar, author of Red Highways: A Liberal's Journey into the Heartland and host of NPR station KALW talk
show "Your Call", asked a diverse (except for shared relief that George
W. Bush's disastrous presidency is almost over) panel of guests, with
global to local expertise ranging from bugs to books, health to wealth,
the arts to politics, war, peace, and everything in between. I was
privileged to be among the large lineup that included Marian Wright Edelman, Founder & President of the Children's Defense Fund, Antonia Juhasz, Author of "The Tyranny of Oil" & "The Bush Agenda", David Kipen, Director, National Reading Initiatives, National Endowment of the Art, and David Cay Johnston, former NY Times tax reporter and author of Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill).

You can listen to the program in full.

Then tell how you'd answer the question, "What Are You Looking Forward to in 2009?" by posting your comments here.

Here's what I'm looking forward to--admittedly a fantasy, but an
eminently doable one: I want to be present when Barack Obama signs the Prevention First act
into law. In one swoop, we would increase needed funding for preventive
family planning services, make sure sex education is medically accurate
and comprehensive as opposed to the current ineffective abstinence-only
variety, make emergency contraception more accessible, and otherwise
prevent unintended pregnancies and ensure healthy, wanted ones.

It's the centerpiece of what RHREalityCheck's Kay Steiger called "The True Common Ground"
agenda for the 111th Congress. I confess to having a mother's
attachment to Prevention First, originally drafted and filed when I was
president of Planned Parenthood (props to my brilliant staff). But
despite broad bipartisan support including cosponsorship by Barack
Obama, the Republican leadership wouldn't let it come up for a vote
when they were in control and the Democrats have been no more
courageous about pushing it during the last two years than they have
been about standing up to Bush on judicial nominees, the war in Iraq,
scientific integrity, the bailouts, or just about anything else.

Stlll, this is a hopeful moment. Despite huge challenges like the
economic meltdown, it feels like America has nowhere to go but up.
Despite the fact that I know full well the Beltway is the Beltway and
there will be disappointments, I sense that most if not all things are
possible. And despite the pro-choice movement's historic pattern of
retrenching into defensive posture after a victory instead of using the
moment to go full steam ahead with proactive measures, I'm looking
forward to 2009 being different.

To being the year that a woman's right to her own life becomes
change we believe it, because it is clearly change we need. I can't
wait to see your answers to Rose's excellent question.

http://www.GloriaFeldt.com

http://www.GloriaFeldt.com/heartfeldt-politics-blog

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What Are You Looking Forward to in 2009?