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Recently, Jon Stewart of the Daily Show interviewed Thomas Friedman of the New York Times. Friedman's appearance was primarily a promotion for his new book, The World Is Flat, which argues that telecommunication advances such as the Internet have leveled the economic playing field for information employment, such as tax prepation and computer programming, allowing citizens of Third World countries to participate in economy of the First World more equally.

Friedman: Well, ladies and gentlemen, this is not a test. We've gotten a little fat, a little dumb, and a little lazy. We've been riding on our success.

Stewart: Mmm, hmm. That sounds like the America I know.

Friedman: Right now, basically, we've got a President who is focused basically on taking apart the New Deal when what we really need is a new New Deal to deal with this flattening world and basically empower...

Friedman goes on to say that he thinks that the American people need a challenge to inspire them as Kennedy's Moon Shot inspired a previous generation. He suggests that the Presidency is the ideal bully pulpit from which to launch such an endevor and that the development of alternative energy sources be the grand project.

While I think Friedman is right about myriad benefits which would come from significant advances in alternative energy generation, I have absolutely no idea how such a project could be construed to excite Americans, particularly a generation of school children. Maybe we could tell the children that they won't be able to play video games any longer because they won't be able to afford electricty to power their game system on the service industry job salaries which will be available to them.