It's (Really, No Really, We Mean it This Time) the Economy, Stupid!

The new global economy isn't so new anymore. It is in full swing---and has been for awhile. While we've been busy hunting down WMDs and barking insults at evildoers, doing business around the world has changed a lot. Eight years later, America can no longer afford to scream from the sidelines. We not only need to get in the game; we need to be defining the rules and the goals of that game.

To do so, we desperately need a leader with vision who understands the interconnectedness of technology, energy, trade and the environment. The same innovative minds that have given us microprocessors the size of our pinky nails could most certainly come up with something better than an SUV for getting around town. But it's going to take an administration willing to make oil-independence a priority and invest in it accordingly.

An energy policy based almost exclusively on extracting more fossil fuels from every crevice of unexplored earth (while cheering 'Drill, baby, drill!') is quite literally one from the dark ages.

Thomas Friedman spells it out: It's way past time to invest in the future, the green economy and the economic realities of the 21st century.

"Unless we make America the country most able to innovate, compete and win in the age of globalization, our leverage in the world will continue to slowly erode. Those are the issues this election needs to be about, because that is what the next four years need to be about."