I'm an avid reader of Waste News. It is an important industry trade publication and I've gained a lot from it over the years. As you can imagine, a publication about garbage is not necessarily the fist place I turn to read about national politics (though we've all seen political rhetoric get bad enough from time to time that it does seem appropriate). Regardless, I was struck by a recent piece by editor Allan Geralt about the next President of the United States:

I'm cynical about politics, about the continental divide between well-intentioned promise and hard reality. But I find a lot of reason for hope with the election of Barack Obama as President, and his political views are the least of it.

My memories of presidents go back to John F. Kennedy, and I believe Obama is the first person elected president to inspire and generate real enthusiasm since JFK. Certainly, that's in the immediate flush of an election and of a candidate that hasn't spent a moment on the job managing realities.

But I believe this time just might be different. Obama won over a disparate group of prominent people, from the Kennedys to Colin Powell to Warren Buffet. But even more, he's shown the ability to get people to do things they might not have done before. Maybe part of it is his historic breaking of racial barriers. Maybe it's his oratory, maybe his calm demeanor. But he shows signs of just the leadership the country badly needs right now.

We're nearly in the same climate we were in immediately following 9-11, where a calamity brought us together and prompted us to put aside our own agendas to meet an overriding challenge. Now the challenge isn't so much terrorists but a stack of serious problems led by a frightening and bewildering economic situation.

Obama may steer a centrist path, which makes great sense in these times. Business may fear that he'll raise taxes and increase regulation, making it more difficult to operate. But Obama realizes making the economy work again is his most critical immediate task, which should direct him away from partisanship. Conversely, the economic climate and Obama's charisma just may make businesses and consumers alike have the confidence to spend money and make sacrifices that need to be made.

Energy and global warming concerns have been big issues for Obama. Those issues might be a big part of his economic recovery plan, but the economic plan needs to come first. I hope with the combination of the times and the man, environmentalists and business alike will accept it if the approach is different than it would have been a few months ago.

While I was not yet not close to voting age when JFK became President, I do remember the election vividly. The hope and promise he brought to the country at the time rings very similar to our current situation. I appreciated Geralt's level-headed and even-keel commentary and his keen observation of our current times and share his sense of optimism.

Buzz Chandler