We are all familiar with that time of the year when your boss calls you into the office to discuss your performance. They often talk about your ability to meet deadlines, how well you follow through, and the overall the success with which you accomplish your job. If you have an effective manager, however, this isn't always such a bleak prospect. A good manger "touches base" with you regularly to provide you valuable information, offer direction, and generally assure your (and ultimately their own) success.

Let's turn to President George W. Bush's yearly review. Ok, so the American people don't have the opportunity to "touch base" regularly, or deliver a yearly review for that mater. We have to wait 4 years to do that. Imagine if you never received feedback and were only reviewed once every 4 years at your job!

Although there isn't a yearly review, this doesn't preclude the people from having an opinion of the president's performance. Let's see how his employers feel he's been doing. Thanks to the Wall Street Journal for hosting the graphic:

Full article: http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/info-presapp0605-31.html

It's a safe bet that if your stock portfolio looks like this, you'd make a change. So a change is what I propose!

We can be that effective manager for the president!

Imagine an easily accessible website describing the tasks the president is undertaking that allow the population to easily provide feedback? Now let's get one thing straight, I'm not saying the president should consult every citizen before making any decisions. I am also not suggesting that he needs to read every feedback that is posted; clearly the logistics of this are impractical.

To borrow a line from Mr. Helpmann, "information is the name of the game. You can't win the game if you're a man short." Today, the average citizen feels powerless to be heard and information is too muddied to be trusted or understood. A government sponsored Review Checklist and Forum of the White House's performance would serve to open lines of communication with The People and the elected officials. The pool of information provided to the White House (free of charge!) would be as vast as the country is diverse.

What could possibly be lost by listening to the advisors that voted you into office? The People would feel a renewed sense of empowerment. Communities would get informed and get involved. The youth of today, would have a better understanding of the world they live in, put down their console game controllers and vote! We can rediscover the ideals and values this country was founded upon and secure a better future for ourselves.

So what would be lost? The sheep. The uninformed American. The downtrodden so desperately needed to keep politician's pockets lined with back alley deals and foreign oil.