Even Rahm Gets It?

I can't say that I expected the centrist, cautious New Democrat Rahm Emanuel to get in the face of corporate America and push them toward a comprehensive solution on health care, green infrastructure and restoring the middle class. Is it a brave new world?

President-elect Barack Obama's incoming White House chief of staff challenged chief executives and other business leaders Tuesday night to join the new administration in a push for universal health care, saying incremental increases in coverage won't be acceptable.

"When it gets rough out there, a lot of business leaders get out of the car and say, 'We're OK with minor reform.' I'm challenging you today, we're going to have to do big, serious things," Rahm Emanuel said, speaking to The Wall Street Journal's CEO Council, a conference convened to elicit corporate opinion on the challenges facing the new president [...]

Mr. Emanuel said that when Mr. Obama and his former White House rival, Republican John McCain, met in Chicago Monday, they discussed making a market-based system to control global warning "a top priority" of the new administration.

Mr. Emanuel promised that a major economic stimulus would be "the first order of business" for Mr. Obama when he takes office Jan. 20. The focus of spending will be on infrastructure, specifically "green infrastructure," which he said would include mass transit, upgraded electricity transmission lines, "smart" electrical meters that allow consumers to save money by using electricity at off-peak hours, and universal broadband Internet access, which he said would encourage telecommuting.

He stressed that the new administration would "throw long and deep," taking advantage of the economic crisis to push wholesale changes in health care, taxes, financial re-regulation and energy. "The American people in two successive elections have voted for change, and change cannot be allowed to die on the doorsteps of Washington," Mr. Emanuel said.

Wow. I know the challenges are enormous and the economy is pretty badly broken, but it's hard not to feel optimistic again.