I'm sorry to have to say this, but Michael Eisner, chairman and CEO of Disney and illustrious Denison alum, needs to go. I watched him on CNN, and, well, he seemed haggard and bereft of ideas, inarticulate and on the defensive. Ya'll are too young to remember this, but when I was a kid Disney disseminated a bold, technologically and culturally savvy optimism. Disney was full of ideas. Disney taught us that it was a "small world after all," an early instantiation of multiculturalism--Wilsonian internationalism packaged as entertainment for the masses. And plastic, goddern if plastic wasn't going to solve everything along with electricity. Never has mid-America gotten so excited about the emancipatory power of kitchen appliances. Sounds silly now, but Disney showed us why we were better off than the communists, socially and technologically. Okay, so today it's not plastic, it's silicon. And it's not Fordist/Taylorist-produced animation, but CGI. The point is that Disney in its heyday was on the cutting edge, and now it's struggling to keep up. Eisner's inability to cut a deal with Pixar is illustrative of the decline. Eisner explained to Larry King that Pixar was moving out of its "adolescence." Well it seems to me that Disney under Eisner is headed towards its retirement. No disrespect to Eisner here, but perhaps it's time for Eisner to retire and let Disney reinvent itself. Walt Disney the man was a visionary and an unabashed futurist. Eisner's strength has been his loyalty to the company and its people, and his insistence on its integrity. To his credit, he has been a good shepherd. But he is no visionary, and quite frankly it is obvious that he is scared of the future, and that comes across in his business decisions, his approach to the internet and to the technology of film distribution and IP (intellectual property) in general. As far as the theme parks go, they still titillate but they no longer inspire. There is no shame in stepping down--under the circumstances it may be a visionary act. I fear that Disney will not offer to children today what it did to my peers and to me. Too bad. It still could. My vote for a replacement is Apple and Pixar CEO Steve Jobs, but this is just wishful thinking. The point is that Disney, to remain Disney in any truly meaningful sense of the term, needs a man like it's founder, that is a futurist.