The Next Clinton Administration

By Si Dunn

Yes, the next presidential election is still many months away. But I am already thinking that a Clinton-Obama ticket will bury Romney-Huckabee deep under a landslide of votes for drastic change and new directions.

Predictions are cheap and easy, so I am predicting Hillary Clinton will be the first female President of the United States, and Barack Obama will be America’s first black Vice President. Might as well get two precedents out of the way for the price of one.

Suggestions also are cheap and easy, so I am making some suggestions for who I would like to see in the next Clinton Administration. You, of course, you are free to post your own predictions and suggestions and to vehemently disagree with any and all of my views. That is one of the great features of our democracy.

Bill Richardson, I think, should serve another stint as Energy Secretary. This position will be more critical than ever to America’s national and international security and to the battle against global warming. The job will require strong international credentials, as well as many domestic leadership skills. Gov. Richardson has a very rich and varied resume that could help him serve America well in a time of increasingly complex challenges.

Madeline Albright should be brought back as the Clinton-Obama Administration’s Secretary of State. She knows and is respected by many of the key international players, and she has the right combination of skills and knowledge to help rebuild America’s tattered international reputation and leadership abroad.

John Edwards could be a very effective Secretary of Health and Human Services, if he wouldn’t view the post as a great demotion after competing so long and hard for the presidency. His comprehensive health plan focusing on revenue sources and cost containment could become a key part of the national debate over how to provide affordable medical coverage to all Americans.

Joe Biden believes strongly in working to improve America’s economic competitiveness. He could make many contributions as Labor Secretary, a post that also will have to deal heavily with illegal immigration and guest worker issues, as well as outsourcing, strengthening unions and domestic job creation, to name just a few.

Christopher Dodd has campaigned forcefully against constitutional encroachments and abuses of executive power. As Attorney General, he could work to help restore constitutional balance and bring a new focus on decency, honesty and fair play in the Executive Branch. He is fluent in Spanish, so he also could help the Clinton-Obama Administration tackle some increasingly thorny immigration issues.

Dennis Kucinich has made peace and international cooperation the centerpiece of his campaign. He should be appointed United Nations Ambassador, so he really can give peace a chance in a very troubled world.

Mike Gravel has been an outspoken advocate for better veterans’ care and for full disability payments for victims of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He should head the Veterans Administration and try to help bring new resources and efficiencies to that long-troubled agency.

As previously noted, we are still many months away from casting votes for President and Vice President of the United States. But, with many critical issues becoming more pressing by the day, it is not too early to start casting grassroots votes for the other key players we would like to see in the next Administration.

Don’t just sit there stewing, disagreeing and being mad. Make your own choices known, now.

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Political UFOs - Updated

By Si Dunn

Like Dennis Kucinich, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter and former Arizona Gov. Fife Symington, I, too, have seen a UFO.

However, unlike their not-so-close encounters, I had a much clearer look at what I saw. And I knew exactly what I was seeing.

Of course, my sighting was long ago, in a universe far away: Little Rock, Arkansas, circa 1958, well before the invention of YouTube videos and cell phone cameras.

Thus, you’ll have to trust the memories of a 63-year-old observer with a reasonably good mind, a long-running reputation for honesty, and absolutely no desire to run for public office.

Anyway...

I was 14 years old, standing in my front yard on a warm summer afternoon. I liked to watch the changing cloud shapes and the silver gleam of the then-fearsome B-47 jet bombers as they slowed over Little Rock and turned toward runways at the nearby Jacksonville Air Force Base.

As I looked almost straight up at one B-47 starting its northeastward landing approach from about 3,000 feet, I suddenly saw a light-grey disk perhaps 30 feet in diameter appear just 50 yards or so behind the B-47’s stabilizer. The grey disk seemed to have a smaller, lighter disk perhaps 10 or 15 feet in diameter underneath at its center.

My immediate impression was that someone had just popped open a parachute. But no one had ejected from the B-47. The bomber simply continued its normal descent, passing a short distance north of the Arkansas State Capitol building.

The grey disk, meanwhile, lingered behind, hanging eerily in the sky, showing no apparent movement at all.

Then, after about 10 seconds, it began to drift due north, accelerating faster and faster. Finally, it zipped into a cloud and disappeared.

What did I see? I saw an unidentified flying object, one that displayed a classic shape reported by many UFO observers. “Flying saucers” had been in the headlines many times in my young life.

Do I believe “my” UFO came from outer space, from a distant civilization far advanced to ours? Perhaps.

It is also possible, as some theorists contend, that it came here from a world which shares our world, in dimensions we cannot sense.

All I know is this: I saw a UFO. And, maybe someday, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson will help me sort out what it was.

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