"That is why Obama, despite his fervent wishes, has been unable to usher in a new period of consensus" Really?
1. How do you know his "fervent wishes"? He's acted differently from Bush? How? same power elite players, different style.
2. More deliberate in the use of power? Any evidence? His new "surge" is no different from any McCain might have launched. Of course, McCain wouldn't have had the Nobel platform our peace maker in chief did.
Stop reprinting the speeches and start looking at the actions of this already failed administration that has doomed us to ten more years of the same policies.

Obama and Clinton before him have had the unenviable job of mopping up the messes left by previous Republican administrations, while at the same time being denounced by the right wing nuts. Rush Limbaugh called the first day of Clinton's presidency "America held hostage, day one." And every time Republicans hold power, they create more messes. You'd think people would stop voting for them, wouldn't you?

When will wisdom prevail and end the squandering? Capitalism creating profit for the few leads to greed. This type of profit is having catastrophic effects on millions of people and environments. Capitalism for the people creates better communities, schools, and health care, along with strong social networks, greener living, restoration of public lands, and making dreams come true. People who care must start making changes locally for freedom to work for all of us. The variety of color in the American populace diversifys the opinions and answers to choose from. This same diversification will soon be mainstream in cooporate america, but not soon enough for the "old stye greed" types from destorying much of the planet. Will the next decade lead the way - I doubt it, but I, like many others will keep trying.

WE HAVE NOT EVEN BEGUN TO SEE HOW BAD THINGS ARE GOING TO GET. THE NEXT DECADE WILL BE SO MUCH WORSE THAN THE PREVIOUS. AMERICANS LIVE IN A CARNIVAL CULTURE. FANTASY HAS NOW TAKEN OVER REALITY. WE KEEP DESTROYING OUR HISTORY. AMERICA HAS NO HEROES, AND RELIGION DOESN'T KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RIGHT OR WRONG. MY GRANDCHILDREN HAVE INHERITED A NIGHTMARE, AND IT ALL HAPPENED WHILE THEIR MENTORS WERE FAST ASLEEP. BLESSED ARE THE PEACE MAKERS, FOR THEY SHALL KNOW GOD.

If I may be pedantic, and we have to do this every ten years. The decade is not ending, arbitrary as such a mark may be. But, the calendar we use is the calendar we have and so this is the final year of this decade. The decade began January 1, 2001 along with the century and the millenium.

Verbatim suggests that our leaders "now only want to "'move on'" without taking time to ponder over what went wrong and why."
Could it be that Osama attacked was, as he said, because we had military installations on what is considered ground holy to Islam? Is our world hegemony with 170 world wide military installations demonstrating our military might a cause for lesser nations to retaliate in the only way they are able? Terrorism is not an organized state with a fixed location that one can overcome by military might. It must be attacked at its core cause with honest diplomacy, understanding, fair trade policies and even aid.
As for Iraq, the given causes were all lies. There were no weapons of mass destruction. Osama was not welcome there. But there was oil and Bush, the oil man, wanted control. The 9/11 attack was all the excuse he needed.
The people of Afghanistan will not look kindly on us nor strive to become a democracy as long as we kill there natural leaders with drones that also kill many civilians each death producing more dedicated terrorists. So why are we there sacrificing our youth and our treasure? Oh, have you heard of the gas pipeline from Turkmenistan? What a prize that would be for the oil companies that had been planning it for some time before 9/11. At least one American company is involved in the planning. We need to get out now, challenge the Afghans to develop a stable government that can then contract to have the pipeline built and profit from the rental fees.
There is no easy or quick answer but if we continue "speaking softly" but no longer "carry a Big Stick"(Monroe Doctrine) terror attacks will decrease.

An article in TruthOut , Jan. 1,by E.J. Dionne Jr. , Fighting Over the Squandered Decade, was criticized by Verbatim(his pseudo name) suggesting that our leaders "now only want to "'move on'" without taking time to ponder over what went wrong and why."
   Could it be that Osama attacked, as he said, because we had military installations on what is considered ground holy to Islam? Is our world hegemony with 170 world wide military installations demonstrating our military might a cause for lesser nations to retaliate in the only way they are able? Terrorism is not an organized state with a fixed location that one can overcome by military might. It must be attacked at its core cause with honest diplomacy, understanding, fair trade policies and even aid.
   As for Iraq, the given causes were all lies. There were no weapons of mass destruction. Osama was not welcome there. But there was oil and Bush, the oil man, wanted control. The 9/11 attack was all the excuse he needed. 
The people of Afghanistan will not look kindly on us nor strive to become a democracy as long as we kill there natural leaders with drones that also kill many civilians each death producing more dedicated terrorists. So why are we there sacrificing our  youth and our treasure? Oh, have you heard  of the gas pipeline from Turkmenistan? What a prize that would be for the oil companies that had been planning it for some time before 9/11. At least one American company is involved in the planning. We need to get out now, challenge the Afghans to develop a stable government that can then contract to have the pipeline built and profit from the rental fees.
There is no easy or quick answer but if we continue "speaking softly" but no longer "carry a Big Stick"(Monroe Doctrine) and give strong support to the United Nations terror attacks will decrease.

Mr. Howard Christofersen, M.D.
Verbatim neither suggested nor criticized.
He simply stated that a) There is little interest in America to understand the squandered decade for what it was; and b) That we are stuck between those who want "to move on" and those who recriminate, both categories being made up of leaders who seem not interested to find out what went wrong and why. In a nutshell our problem is failed leadership. But since we put the leaders in power, it is our failure too. We are too busy with toeing our divisive party lines when we ought to look at facts and see the truth.

The writer is correct in his assessment of the last decade; however, he is wrong about the next one. This year has ended on the same note as Bush was leaving office in disgrace--Whether he admits it or not. Obama filled his Administration with all those who brought about the financial meltdown--This is not news or even new. The next decade will be far worse as the really bad guys control all aspects of our lives and our government. This is not taking back our govt.; nor is it turning away from the Reaganites determination to seize control of the WH and run out country into the ground and make all of us frightened rabbit slaves.
There will be more war, more corruption, less rights and freedoms for all of us except the very top one per centers who will be fat on their gluttony. It will be a one country bank (BofA), Wal Mart will be the only store in the land (All others crushed), all voting will be electronic but no one will have to bother with long lines for it will be done from the safety and comfort of their own home over the net (The winner posted immediately as polls close),the prison population will not double as predicted for voluntary suicide will be the wave (Whether they wanted it or not)...What a lovely decade we are being marched into.