Our next president. . . .

I can't get this Thomas Friedman editorial out of my mind, in the midst of grief and concern over Joe's death. Maybe I'm connecting stuff to the meditation upon Jonah 3 and 4 yesterday in our EFM class, where I realized our entire country needs to repent and turn around--and sacrifice. Give up using so much gas, less air conditioning (AAK--in Texas, too???), buying, consuming more than we need. . . We all would have come together after 9/11, but were not challenged to do so. Now we're fighting over side issues like a pig wearing lipstick when the economy is finally showing its true state of being.

I don't always agree with Friedman, but I think this editorial hits where it should about the next president. He ends with:

"The last president who challenged his base was Bill Clinton, when he reformed welfare and created a budget surplus with a fair and equitable tax program. George W. Bush never once — not one time — challenged Americans to do anything hard, let alone great. The next president is not going to have that luxury. He will have to ask everyone to do something hard — and I want to know now who is up to that task."

Go here to read the full article, which is entitled "No Laughing Matter."