What To Give Obama and His Team for the Holidays? The Measure of America

What to get for the Secretary of Labor, Education, Health, Housing or Transportation? In a post for the Huffington Post, Derek Shearer, who worked in the Clinton administration, suggests some possible gift ideas for Obama and his soon-to-be presidential staff. For books, Shearer suggests The Measure of America: The American Development Report 2008-2009.

Shearer writes:

For the Secretaries of Labor, Education, Health, Housing, Transportation, and White House staffers on domestic policy, a highly useful gift would be: The Measure of America: The American Development Report 2008-2009, by Sarah Burd-Sharps, Kristen Lewis and Eduardo Borgers-Martins. This study applies the statistical and analytical methods of the UN Development Reports to the United States. It contains a host of data on economic, social, political and environmental issues while highlighting comparative rankings in three core areas of human welfare: living a long and healthy life, having access to knowledge, and enjoying a decent standard of living. The US, sad to say, is not number one in most categories. The report also discusses government policies that can improve the American quality of life. It should sit on the desk of all domestic officials and serve as both a benchmark and a roadmap for progressive reforms in the Obama administration.

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