But where do the good ideas get their start? How are they inspired? What does it take to know a good idea from a not-so-good idea. And most important of all, what does it take to grow a good idea into a BIG idea? These are questions that a government focused on change for the better must have the answers for. And following on the heels of that answer, the answer as to what it takes to bring a big idea into a real force for change.

Somewhere in the basement of the White House is a small room. A storage space perhaps. Or a long forgotten office or supply room. The purpose of this site is to turn that site into the White House Office of Creative Affairs. A desk. A chair. A phone. And most important of all, a computer linked to the most creative minds of our time.

From Architects to Zoologists, the thought leaders and innovators who are willing to serve at the will of the President need a means to become a part of the campaign for Change in America. This is their on-ramp to involvement by contributing their time and their genius to generate the millions of solutions needed to effect the Administration’s sacred promise to the American people.

But right now, the White House Office of Creative Affairs is just an idea. What will it take to make it a reality? Your best; your biggest ideas. Right here. Right now.

Our proof of concept testing activities for the proposed White House Office of Creative Affairs (OCA) have been successfully completed. This project took the effort of a great many people volunteering their time, effort, facilities and genius. Their sole motivation, their firm belief that the Nation would be better served with the Creative Community having a seat at the table. Thank you all for your kind words and thoughtful contributions to change in America. On Friday December 19,2008 our OCA Proposal was formally presented to the Obama/Biden Administration for their review.  Starting on the Monday December, 22, 3008 we will begin with the second phase of our research activities and the posts on these pages will be selected by The Committee and IAPIA to be shifted to ThinkHardAmerica.wordpress.com for on-line development by those who believe their ideas can help to make America grow.

Day after day as we slog through the millions of details it takes to bring an idea from vaporware to full blown application version 1.0, a bright light pierces the cloud cover. Several days ago the transition team website change.gov opened up a series of public forums to gain popular opinions and ideas about the Obama Agenda Items. Hmmm. Wonder where that idea came from? In any case they covered all the content generated by the forums under the Fair use statutes of the Creative Commons accord. This means it can be lifted and posted on other sites.

Obviously there was a rush to comment from those who are following the transition activities. Naturally the infrastructure of change.com is not scalable enough to take the load of such significant traffic. This provides us with an opportunity to promote our proposal by cherry-picking the most noteworthy suggestions and posting them here on our “Suggested ideas” section. The important thing is for this important conceptual work not to get buried in the crush of commentary and for it to be isolated so as to allow further comment and collaboration.

In this way the work of the OAC can begin in earnest here and now. We invite your comments and improvements on the items posted in the top 20. All will be forwarded on a weekly basis to the Transition Team directly.

The Office of the President-Elect has started fulfilling their promise of change with a bang. The website Change.gov is a powerful step in the right direction. And it was our second step in making the White House Office of Creative Affairs (WHOCA) a reality. This is the message we sent to the Transition Team via http://change.gov/yourvision the section of the site dedicated to input from the public at large:

EVERYTHING WORTH DOING STARTS WITH A GOOD IDEA.

But where do the good ideas get their start? How are they inspired? What does it take to know a good idea from a not-so-good idea. And most important of all, what does it take to grow a good idea into a BIG idea? These are questions that a government focused on change for the better must have the answers for. And following on the heels of that answer, the answer as to what it takes to bring a big idea into a real force for change.

Somewhere in the basement of the White House is a small room. A storage space perhaps. Or a long forgotten office or supply room. The purpose of this site is to turn that site into the White House Office of Creative Affairs. A desk. A chair. A phone. And most important of all, a computer linked to the most creative minds of our time.

From Architects to Zoologists, the thought leaders and innovators who are willing to serve at the will of the President need a means to become a part of the campaign for Change in America. This is their on-ramp to involvement by contributing their time and their genius to generate the millions of solutions needed to effect the Administration’s sacred promise to the American people.

BUT HOW DOES SUCH AN IDEA BECOME A REALITY?

Like all ideas, it is only as real as the energy dedicated to make it so. You, as the person reading this message can either say,”Hey, this guy may be on to something,” and pass it up the line. Or you might hit delete and go to the next one in your stack of thousands. That decision, I leave to you.

But if I believe that this idea has merit, then I am not going to leave its fate up to an overworked government representative to decide. I am going to try every avenue at my disposal to bring it to the attention of the powers that can make it real. Since the Obama Administration has made a policy of transparency by making the statement:

“President-elect Obama has pledged to change the way Washington works, and that begins with shifting influence away from special interests and restoring it to the everyday Americans who are passionate about fixing the problems facing our country.

Opening up the Transition means listening to your ideas and stories and providing a window into how the process works. “

I will therefore test the depth of my passion by starting such an office on my own, just to see if it is worthy of the attention of the Administration. If you have an interest in learning more you can visit this ad hoc White House Office of Creative Affairs by going to http://WhiteHouseOfficeOfCreativeAffairs.wordpress.com

Thank you for all of your hard work. It is appreciated.

No doubt, as one of a million responses, this message will get lost in the shuffle. But at least we utilized the prescribed path to get an idea to those who have the power to make it happen. But by no means are we intending to stop there. Stay tuned for our next effort to get Creativity a seat at the table.