Obama should meet diverse black leaders

To President-elect Obama's credit he met with a group of conservatives last week. From what i saw it was an all white group. Perhaps there were some African Americans and others at the meeting/dinner held at George Will's home, but I haven't seen or heard about them.

Obama should meet with various leaders of many groups that are often assumed not to be important. These include black conservatives and otherwise more independent thinkers outside of the Democratic Left. Obama comes from the leftist traditions that believe the Democratic Party too moderate. Yet, there are many voices including Shelby Steele who embarassed himself with his book about why Obama can't win. Walter Williams, Juan Williams, Bill Cosby, Michelle Bernard, Kurt Schmoke, and others.

I want the new President to hear and discuss about vouchers, immigration reform, new ideas on the economy, different views on race, etc.

I'm hoping Obama is a liberal in my tradition, rather than a leftwinger that many of his supporters believe him to be.

So far it is clear he wants to portray himself as being truly open-minded and focused on doing the right thing regardless of ideology or politics. That is my definition of a liberal, a newliberal.

I hope this is genuine and continues to be expanded throughout the next four years so we can examine our institutions and make needed improvements.