Here's some friendly advice from a recovering politician on setting priorities for your new administration. My wife and I think it's one of the greatest films of the past 10 years because it dramatizes how racial reconciliation and social justice can be achieved through courageous moral leadership. It's a tremendous example of what must happen in America at the dawn of this new century.
Racial reconciliation is the greatest challenge for our democracy.
It's impossible to promote liberal democracy abroad if it's not working here at home. What we preach to Eastern Europe and Southern Africa we must practice in East Harlem and south central Los Angeles. We can't promote ethnic harmony in the Balkans and the Middle East unless we nurture it in our own national family. It's true we've never enjoyed greater prosperity for many or had a better chance for peace, but the best of times is also the worst of times for those who are uneducated, ill-trained for the technology economy and trapped on the wrong side of the digital divide. Never forget the lesson of the Good Shepherd and his care for all his flock.