Welcome to 2008.
You made it.
The dawning of each new year brings a new sense of optimism, of hope. This is the year, we say to ourselves, to finally shed those 10 pounds, or to spend more time with the family, or to take up woodworking or to learn a foreign language.
A new year means a new chance.
With that perspective as our guide, we offer our annual wishes for the new year. Sure, a few may be far-fetched or downright impossible, but wouldn’t it be nice if just a few of these things came to be?
In 2008, we’d like to see:
• The drawdown of U.S. troops in Iraq because the Iraqi government wisely used this somewhat quiet time afforded by the “surge” to devise a political compromise that allows Americans to start heading home without causing the country to unravel.
At the very least, our fondest hope in 2008 would be for the courage shown by American fighting men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan to be matched by the wisdom of the politicians in those countries and this one who control their destiny.
• A peaceful and successful Democratic National Convention, where convention-goers sink money into local coffers and residents survive without major hassles.
• Another National League pennant run by the Colorado Rockies. In the words of baseball great Yogi Berra, it would be “Deja vu all over again.” But this time it needs to end with a Todd Helton ninth-inning homer in the seventh game of the World Series, giving Jeff Francis a 1-0 victory and sealing the first perfect game in the fall classic since Don Larsen’s 1956 triumph.
• The Bush administration, capitalizing on the fact that the French have elected a pro-American president in Nicolas Sarkozy, begin to rebuild America’s frayed ties to “old Europe.” Admitting that the French were right to urge holding off on an invasion of Iraq until order was restored in Afghanistan would be a good start.
• Compromise. We wished for it in 2006, our most recent election year, and think it should a yearly resolution for our leaders. The rigid ideology that has polarized politics and caused stalemates in Washington, D.C., hurts the country. Americans deserve a government that more often than not seeks middle ground through compromise.
• Budget reform. Gov. Bill Ritter and the bipartisan legislative leadership should launch a serious review of Colorado’s tangled budget picture and chart a course out of the conflicting morass of constitutional mandates that have worked at cross purposes for the last 25 years.
• Professional athletes figure out how to just say no when it comes to performance-enhancing drugs like steroids and human growth hormones. The fall from grace of cyclist Floyd Landis, track star Marion Jones and assorted baseball players is enough to make us think about becoming cricket fans in 2008 — at least for 10 seconds.
• A lead-free Olympics. China will showcase its new economic prominence by hosting the 2008 Olympics. We hope winners aren’t forced to return their gold medals after tests reveal they are actually made from lead sprayed with gilded paint.
• Some measure of electoral reform. We’ll elect a new president in 2008 and for the first time in history, that person might not be a white male. Here’s hoping that whoever he or she is, the hurried-up nominating process that has voters choosing candidates before they’ve recovered from their New Year’s Eve hangovers gets a serious makeover. How about a system of regional primaries and caucuses, with the first balloting beginning no earlier than May 2012?
We were going to wish something good for the Denver Broncos, but Mike Shanahan called a last-second timeout and made us to lose our train of thought.
Oh yes, last — and certainly least — there’s that cavalcade of “stars” whose escapades continue to make news. Here’s hoping Britney Spears can keep her pants on and her hair intact. If she doesn’t, here’s hoping we will be mercilessly ignorant of those facts.
