Historian Douglas Brinkley is Thinking About the Future

New Orleans native, music fanatic, and presidential historian Douglas Brinkley is about as entrepreneurial as he is smart, suggesting that Imus turn the WABC 5 Favorite Songs contest into a profitable venture for the Imus Ranch.

"That's not a bad idea," said Imus, the sound of wheels turning in his head practically audible.

Less dynamic these days is President Obama, whose plans for health care reform unraveled before his eyes last year, causing much of his legislative agenda in 2009 to derail along with it.

"Something like climate conservation or immigration reform, things the Democrats wanted to tackle, got waylaid," said Brinkley. And a series of bad breaks — the attempted Christmas Day airplane bombing, Harry Reid's silly racist remarks, and Republican Scott Brown's Senate victory in Massachusetts — did not help.

"Here you are in early February '10, and there's still no health care," said Brinkley. "And everybody's saying, 'jobs, jobs, jobs,' but it's hard to find where those jobs are going to come from."

He sees little in the way of Eisenhower-style public works programs, like building an interstate highway system, coming from Obama. But Brinkley recommended Obama turn toward the private sector, and away from Congress, to create some of those needed jobs.

For example, said Brinkley, Obama could use some of the Bureau of Land Management land out West, which is currently leased to cowboys, and lease it to wind farms as well to get double pay.

"They'd get both grazing fees and turbine fees, and also put people to work building federal wind farms, federal solar panel farms," said Brinkely. "There needs to be some kind of big thing."

Brinkley also thinks a shake-up is in order within the administration. He was mum on exactly who should be fired, but owed that the Department of Homeland Security does not seem to be inspiring much confidence lately.

Unlike Brinkley's hometown New Orleans Saints, the 2009 NFC champs who will play the Indianapolis Colts in this Sunday's Superbowl game. It will be the franchise's first Superbowl appearance, and Brinkley said Saints fever has consumed a city still recovering from the destruction of Hurricane Katrina nearly five years ago.

"If they lose, there will be one big hangover in New Orleans," said Brinkley, adding, "If they win, there will still be a big hangover. It will just be with a bigger smile."

-Julie Kanfer