Editor’s note: Andrew Mayer is an interactive design consultant who works with entertainment start-ups and game companies.

(CNN) — While we’ll never know for sure what he would have done differently, the hallmark of Steve Jobs’ genius was that he reacted to changes in the marketplace by forging entirely new territory through powerful design and radical innovation.

Apple spent a decade far out in front of the competition through Jobs’ almost uncanny combination of vision and showmanship. During that time, buying a new Apple device was always exciting and surprising (even if it was occasionally frustrating).

And now, Apple seems to be in danger of becoming a wallflower. Instead of leading, will the company increasingly become a follower?

Apple is reportedly testing larger screens for its phones and tablets, partly in reaction to the success of the devices released by its main rival, Samsung.

Sure, competition is tough in the mobile devices market. Samsung’s Galaxy S4, with its 5-inch screen, has become the fastest selling Android phone in history.

Apple’s iPhone 5 has a 4-inch screen and its iPad has a 9.7-inch screen. Devices that run the Android operating system come in a range of sizes, most of which tend to be bigger.

One can argue that most apps don’t need a big-screen experience. In fact, a big part of the mobile revolution was about creating simple experiences that are vastly superior because they were designed to work on a small screen (Google maps and Instagram are two good examples). To put it another way, people may want an SUV because it’s bigger, but a sports car would probably give them a smoother ride.

Although it’s hard to argue that playing games and viewing videos can benefit from a big screen, it’s perfectly fine to kill off all the pigs in Angry Birds or finish an episode of “The Walking Dead” in the confines of a 4-inch screen. If it’s any indication, more than 50 billion apps have been downloaded from the Apple app store in just five years.

So if thing are great then why should Apple be thinking about bigger screens?

One reason is that Apple’s stock has fallen in the past 10 months, with Wall Street feeling nervous about the company’s future and its ability to come up with innovative products. On Tuesday, Apple released its quarterly earnings. While sales beat expectations, profits were down.

Apple has already put out a smaller iPad, the iPad mini. But every new screen size brings the company one step closer to the riot of sizes and resolutions that have made developing apps for Android devices far more difficult than for iOS devices.

We tend to tout changes in technology as a good thing. And like all companies, Apple is looking to make smart changes. Although Apple has modified its stance, it’s clear that the iPad mini is not quite the device we would have seen if Jobs was around today.

In the hyper-competitive mobile market, two years is a lifetime. Since Jobs passed away in 2011, the current version of iOS already seems dated and stale. Android may not be better in many ways, but it’s pulling ahead in innovation, including better meshing of apps, smarter and more interactive icons, and reinventing basic interface elements like the keyboard.

In response, Apple is releasing a new version of its operating system in the fall. Despite showing off some bold (and controversial) design choices, it seems more evolutionary than revolutionary.

Apple is well aware that innovation is still a key part of its appeal. But without its creative genius at the helm, the company is going head to head with Samsung in the marketplace. That still leaves us waiting for the next big thing. What Apple needs most are bold new ideas, not bigger iPhones or iPads.

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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Andrew Mayer.

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Chris Pizzello/AP

We know they carry some risks, but that doesn’t make belly-flops any less entertaining. Brian Gats lands in a pool during a belly-flop contest in Daytona Beach, Florida, in 2004.

Ever year, the Summer Redneck Games are held in East Dublin, Georgia, and attendees participate in the Mud Pit Belly Flop contest. Ed Molina tried his best to win in 2009.

We’re not sure whether landing in mud is better or worse than landing on water. It sure is a lot messier this way.

Matt Gackle belly-flops during the 15th annual Water World Belly-Flop Showdown in Denver in 2011.

Gerald Magness flies through the air on his first of three belly-flops into the Calypso Cove pool in Federal Heights, Colorado, in 2009.

A man jumps into a pool during the World Belly-Flop & Cannonball Diving Championships in Colorado in 1981. The costume just adds a touch of flair.

Editor’s note: Dr. Sonu Ahluwalia is the clinical chief of orthopedic surgery at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He is board certified in sports medicine and hosts a talk show overseas called “All is Well with Dr. Ahluwalia.”

(CNN) — Q: Can belly-flops be dangerous?

A: A belly-flop, for the uninitiated, is when you land flat on your belly and face in the water — intentionally or unintentionally.

Believe it or not, some people have made a profession out of this.

Darren Taylor, aka “Professor Splash,” professionally jumps from high ledges, landing belly-down in a small pool of water. Even reality shows have caught on to the entertainment value of a well-executed belly-flop; ABC’s “Splash” features celebrities executing dives poorly.

For those of us who may not be the best divers, there is good news: Belly-flops rarely cause serious injuries. That said, let’s talk about what can happen, other than a bruised ego.

The higher you jump or dive from, the faster you will hit the water. Some experts believe that you can reach speeds of up to 40 mph diving from a 10-meter board (almost 33 feet). And as nice as the water feels when you are in it, it does not act that way when you enter it at a high speed.

The most common injuries seen with belly-flops are contusions or bruising of the skin. Rarely do these bruises go deeper and affect your internal organs, but they can.

Deeper abdominal injury from belly flops is known as blunt abdominal trauma. It is similar to being hit on the belly really hard. It can affect organs such as the liver, kidney, pancreas and the bowels. Not only is the abdomen taking the brunt of the landing into the water at a high velocity, there is also sudden deceleration, both of which can cause trauma to the organs. Children are more vulnerable than adults because they have less abdominal fat and a relatively larger abdominal cavity.

After a belly-flop, it is normal for the skin to sting for a while. If the pain is persistent, or if you see blood in your urine or stool, you should see a doctor right away.

Helpful hint: If you find yourself turning from swan to hippo in mid-air, try to lessen the blow by breaking the water with your fingers or feet. When you fall flat, the larger surface area causes a bigger impact.

The biggest danger for daredevils comes when they leap from high ledges without knowing how deep the water is below. Hitting the bottom of the pool, lake or river headfirst could cause a spinal injury, which could lead to paralysis or death.

Always make sure the pool is deep enough before you dive or intentionally belly-flop. When in doubt, always jump feet first. A pool with a 1-meter springboard must be a minimum of 11.5 feet deep at the point directly under the edge of the diving board. For a 3-meter board, the water must be 12.5 feet deep. For a 10-meter platform, the water should be 16 feet deep.

Also, be sure to dive off the tip of the diving board. Never dive from the side, as there is a risk of hitting the side of the pool or landing painfully on a sloped bottom near the wall.

Bottom line: Swimming is a great activity, and kids are unlikely to injure themselves by just being kids. Follow these simple safety rules and provide supervision — even for good swimmers — to have a fun, injury-free summer!

Dennis Farina has died, his representative said Monday, July 22. He was 69. Above, Farina shoots a scene as Detective Joe Fontana in “Law & Order” in 2004.

Farina attends the 23rd annual Chicago Film Critics Awards and Chicago Comedy Awards on January 7, 2012.

Producer and director Michael Mann, left, and Farina attend HBO’s “Luck” Los Angeles premiere after-party on January 25, 2012, in Hollywood, California.

Farina, left, and Woody Harrelson attend a party on March 5, 2008, in Hollywood.

Farina and Dick Wolf, executive producer and director of “Law & Order,” speak to the press on June 11, 2004, in Los Angeles.

Jesse L. Martin, from left, S. Epatha Merkerson, Farina, Sam Waterston, Fred Thompson, and Elisabeth Rohm pose as their “Law and Order” characters in 2004.

Farina attends the 4th annual Sinatra Golf Invitational in Palm Springs, California, in February 1992.

Hanna Cox, from left, Farina, and Julia Roberts pose for a photo on the set of the TV show “Crime Story” in 1987.

A look back at those we have lost in 2013.

Former world-class boxer Emile Griffith, who won five titles during the 1960s, died July 23, the International Boxing Hall of Fame announced. He was 75.

Dennis Farina has died, his representative said Monday, July 22. He was 69. Above, Farina shoots a scene as Detective Joe Fontana in “Law & Order” in 2004.

Pioneer journalist and former senior White House correspondent Helen Thomas died on July 20, after a long illness, sources told CNN. She was 92.

Jazz guitarist Carline Ray died at Isabella House in New York City, on July 18. She was 88.

Cory Monteith, who played heart throb Finn Hudson in the Fox hit “Glee,” was found dead in a Vancouver, Canada, hotel room Saturday, July 13, police said. He was 31.

Douglas Englebart, the inventor of the computer mouse, died Tuesday, July 2, at his home in Atherton, California, according to SRI International, the research institute where he once worked. He was 88.

Jim Kelly, a martial artist best known for his appearance in the 1973 Bruce Lee movie “Enter the Dragon,” died on June 29 of cancer. He was 67. After a brief acting career, he became a ranked professional tennis player on the USTA senior men’s circuit. Here he appears in the 1974 film “Three the Hard Way.”

Bert Stern, a revolutionary advertising photographer in the 1960s who also made his mark with images of celebrities, died on June 25 at age 83. Possibly most memorably, he captured Marilyn Monroe six weeks before she died for a series later known as “The Last Sitting.”

Alan Myers, Devo’s most well-known drummer, lost his battle with cancer on June 24. Band member Mark Mothersbaugh said in a statement that Myers’ style on the drums helped define the band’s early sound.

Singer Bobby “Blue” Bland, who helped create the modern soul-blues sound, died June 23 at age 83. Bland was part of a blues group that included B.B. King. His song “Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City” was sampled on a Jay-Z album. Bland was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.

Marc Rich, the commodities trader and Glencore founder whom President Bill Clinton pardoned on his final day in office, died June 26 at age 78 in Switzerland. Rich often was credited with the creation of modern oil trading. He lived abroad after being indicted in 1983 for tax evasion, false statements, racketeering and illegal trading with Iran, becoming one of the world’s most famous white-collar criminals.

Richard Matheson, an American science-fiction writer best known for his novel “I Am Legend,” died June 23 at age 87. During a career that spanned more than 60 years, Matheson wrote more than 25 novels and nearly 100 short stories, plus screenplays for TV and film.

James Gandolfini died at the age of 51, after an apparent heart attack. Gandolfini became a fan favorite for his role as mob boss Tony Soprano on HBO’s “The Sopranos.”

Country music singer/songwriter Slim Whitman died on June 19, his son-in-law Roy Beagle told CNN. He was 90. Above, Whitman poses with his guitar at a press conference at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London, on February 22, 1956.

Esther Williams, whose success as a competitive swimmer propelled her to Hollywood stardom during the 1940s and 1950s, died on Thursday, June 6 in California, according to her spokesman.

David “Deacon” Jones, who is credited with coining the term “sacking the quarterback” during his stint as one of the greatest defensive ends in the NFL, has died.

Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey died June 3 of viral pneumonia, his office said. Lautenberg, 89, had been the Senate’s last surviving veteran of World War II.

Actress Jean Stapleton, best known for her role as Archie Bunker’s wife, Edith, in the groundbreaking 1970s TV sitcom “All in the Family,” died at age 90 on Saturday, June 1.

Ed Shaughnessy, the longtime drummer for “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson,” has died, a close friend said Sunday. He was 84.

Ray Manzarek, keyboardist and founding member of The Doors, passed away of cancer on Monday, May 20. He was 74.

NASCAR legend Dick Trickle died on May 16 of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was 71.

Popular American psychologist and television personality Dr. Joyce Brothers died at 85, her daughter said on May 13. Brothers gained fame as a frequent guest on television talk shows and as an advice columnist for Good Housekeeping magazine and newspapers throughout the United States.

Jeanne Cooper, who played Katherine Chancellor, the “Dame of Genoa City,” on “The Young and the Restless,” died on May 8. She was 84.

Ray Harryhausen, the stop-motion animation and special-effects master whose work influenced such directors as Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson and George Lucas, died on May 7 at age 92, according to the Facebook page of the Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation.

Grammy-winning guitarist Jeff Hanneman, a founding member of the heavy metal band Slayer, died on May 2 of liver failure. He was 49.

Chris Kelly, one-half of the 1990s rap duo Kris Kross, died on May 1 at an Atlanta hospital after being found unresponsive at his home, the Fulton County medical examiner’s office told CNN.
Kelly, right, and Chris Smith shot to stardom in 1992 with the hit “Jump.”

George Jones, the country music legend whose graceful, evocative voice gave depth to some of the greatest songs in country music — including “She Thinks I Still Care,” “The Grand Tour” and “He Stopped Loving Her Today” — died on April 26 at age 81, according to his public relations firm.

Actor Allan Arbus poses for a portrait with his daughter photographer Amy Arbus in 2007. Allan Arbus, who played psychiatrist Maj. Sidney Freedman in the M*A*S*H television series, died at age 95, his daughter’s representative said April 23.

Folk singer Richie Havens, the opening act at the 1969 Woodstock music festival, died on April 22 of a heart attack, his publicist said. He was 72.

Australian rocker Chrissy Amphlett, the Divinyls lead singer whose group scored an international hit with the sexually charged “I Touch Myself” in the early 1990s, died on April 21 from breast cancer and multiple sclerosis, her husband said. She was 53.

Pat Summerall, the NFL football player turned legendary play-by-play announcer, was best known as a broadcaster who teamed up with former NFL coach John Madden. Summerall died April 16 at the age of 82.

Comedian Jonathan Winters died on April 11 at age 87. Known for his comic irreverence, he had a major influence on a generation of comedians. Here he appears on “The Jonathan Winters Show” in 1956.

Sir Robert Edwards, a “co-pioneer” of the in vitro fertilization technique and Nobel Prize winner, died April 10 in his sleep after a long illness, the University of Cambridge said. He was 87. He is pictured on July 25, 1978, holding the world’s first “test-tube baby,” Louise Joy Brown, alongside the midwife and Dr. Patrick Steptoe, who helped develop the fertility treatment.

Annette Funicello, one of the best-known members of the original 1950s “Mickey Mouse Club” and a star of 1960s “beach party” movies, died at age 70 on April 8. Pictured, Funicello performs with Jimmie Dodd on “The Mickey Mouse Club” in1957.

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, a towering figure in postwar British and world politics and the only woman to become British prime minister, died at the age of 87 on Monday, April 8.

Designer Lilly Pulitzer, right, died on April 7 at age 81, according to her company’s Facebook page. The Palm Beach socialite was known for making sleeveless dresses from bright floral prints that became known as the “Lilly” design.

Film critic Roger Ebert died on April 4, according to his employer, the Chicago Sun-Times. He was 70. Ebert had taken a leave of absence on April 2 after a hip fracture was revealed to be cancer.

Jane Nebel Henson, wife of the late Muppets creator Jim Henson and instrumental in the development of the world-famous puppets, died April 2 after a long battle with cancer. She was 78.

Shain Gandee, one of the stars of the MTV reality show “Buckwild,” was found dead with two other people in Kanawha County, West Virginia, on April 1. He was 21.

Music producer and innovator Phil Ramone, right, with Paul Shaffer, left, and Billy Joel at the Song Writers Hall of Fame Awards in New York in 2001. Ramone died March 30 at the age of 72.

Writer/producer Don Payne, one of the creative minds behind “The Simpsons,” died March 26 at his home in Los Angeles after losing a battle with bone cancer, reports say. He was 48.

Gordon Stoker, left, who as part of the vocal group the Jordanaires sang backup on hits by Elvis Presley, died March 27 at 88.

Deke Richards, center, died March 24 at age 68. Richards was a producer and songwriter who was part of the team responsible for Motown hits such as “I Want You Back” and “Maybe Tomorrow.” He had been battling esophageal cancer.

Legendary publisher, promoter and weightlifter Joe Weider, who created the Mr. Olympia contest and brought California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to the United States, died at age 93 on March 23.

Playboy magazine’s 1962 “Playmate of the Year,” Christa Speck Krofft, died March 22 of natural causes at the age of 70.

Rena Golden, who held top positions at CNN, died at age 51 after battling lymphoma for two years on March 21.

Harry Reems, the porn star best known for playing Dr. Young in the 1972 adult film classic “Deep Throat,” died March 19, according to a spokeswoman at a Salt Lake City hospital. Reems, whose real name is Herbert Streicher, was 65.

Bobbie Smith, who as a member of the Spinners sang lead on such hits as “I’ll Be Around” and “Could It Be I’m Falling in Love,” died on March 16 at age 76. Pictured clockwise from left, Spinners band member Pervis Jackson, Billy Henderson, Jonathan Edwards, Bobbie Smith and Henry Fambrough, 1977.

Sweden’s Princess Lilian, the Welsh-born model who lived with her lover Prince Bertil for 30 years before they were married, has died at the age of 97, the Swedish Royal Court said in a statement.

Alvin Lee, the speed-fingered British guitarist who lit up Woodstock with a monumental 11-minute version of his song “I’m Going Home,” died on March 6, according to his website. He was 68.

Hugo Chavez, the polarizing president of Venezuela who cast himself as a “21st century socialist” and foe of the United States, died March 5, said Vice President Nicolas Maduro.

Bobby Rogers, one of the original members of Motown staple The Miracles, died on Sunday, March 3, at 73. From left: Bobby Rogers, Ronald White, Smokey Robinson and Pete Moore circa 1965.

Actress Bonnie Franklin, star of the TV show “One Day at a Time,” died at the age of 69 on March 1 of complications from pancreatic cancer.

Actor Dale Robertson, who was popular for his western TV shows and movies, died at age 89 on Thursday, February 28.

Richard Street, former member of the Temptations, died at age 70 on February 27. Street, second from the left, poses for a portrait with fellow members of the Temptations circa 1973.

Van Cliburn, the legendary pianist honored with a New York ticker-tape parade for winning a major Moscow competition in 1958, died on February 27 after a battle with bone cancer, his publicist said. He was 78.

Former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop died on February 25. He was 96. Koop served as surgeon general from 1982 to 1989, under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

Damon Harris, former member of the Motown group the Temptations, died at age 62 on February 18. Harris, center on the stool, poses for a portrait with fellow members of The Temptations circa 1974.

Lou Myers, a stage, film and TV actor who memorably portrayed Mr. Gaines on the comedy “A Different World,” died on February 19 at the age of 75.

Los Angeles Laker owner Jerry Buss died February 18 at age 80. Buss, who had owned the Lakers since 1979, was credited with procuring the likes of Earvin “Magic” Johnson, James Worthy, Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant. The Lakers won 10 NBA championships and 16 Western Conference titles under Buss’ ownership.

Country singer Mindy McCready was found dead on February 17 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said. She was 37. During her career, McCready landed 14 songs and six albums on the Billboard country charts.

Ed Koch, the brash former New York mayor, died February 1 of congestive heart failure at 88, his spokesman said.

Patty Andrews, center, the last surviving member of the Andrews Sisters, died at her Northridge, California, home on January 30, her publicist Alan Eichler said. She was 94. Patty is seen in this 1948 photograph with her sisters Maxene, left, and Laverne.

Baseball Hall of Famer and St. Louis Cardinals great Stan Musial died on January 19, according to his former team. He was 92.

Baseball Hall of Fame manager Earl Sidney Weaver, who led the Baltimore Orioles to four pennants and a World Series title with a pugnacity toward umpires, died January 19 of an apparent heart attack at age 82, Major League Baseball said.

Pauline Phillips, better known to millions of newspaper readers as the original Dear Abby advice columnist, has died after a long battle with Alzheimer’s Disease. She died January 16 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, at age 94.

Aaron Swartz, the Internet activist who co-wrote the initial specification for RSS, committed suicide, a relative told CNN on January 12. He was 26. Swartz also co-founded Demand Progress, a political action group that campaigns against Internet censorship.

Claude Nobs, the founder of the Montreux Jazz Festival, died aged 76 following a skiing accident.

Richard Ben Cramer, the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer whose 1992 book “What It Takes” remains one of the most detailed and passionate of all presidential campaign chronicles, died January 7, according to his longtime agent. He was 62.

Director and stuntman David R. Ellis died on January 7. He directed “Snakes on a Plane.”

Tony Lip, who played mob figures in the hit cable show “The Sopranos” and several critically acclaimed movies, died January 4, a funeral home official said. Lip, whose real name was Frank Vallelonga, was 82.

Character actor Ned Wertimer, known to fans of “The Jeffersons” as the doorman Ralph Hart, died on January 2. He was 89.

Pop-country singer Patti Page died on January 1 in Encinitas, California. She was 85. Born Clara Ann Fowler, Page was the best-selling female artist of the 1950s and had 19 gold and 14 platinum singles.

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Photos: People we lost in 2013

Photos: People we lost in 2013

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Farina was on “Law & Order” for two years, partnered with Jesse L. Martin’s Ed Green. Martin’s character became a senior detective after Farina left the show.

In recent years, Farina was one of the stars of “Luck,” the ill-fated HBO series about horse racing, and had an occasional role on the Fox series “New Girl.”

Farina was born in 1944 in Chicago’s Old Town neighborhood. He became a police officer in the late ’60s and soon graduated to detective.

His switch to acting was a fluke.

A friend was an adviser on “Thief” and recommended Farina to Mann, who was looking for a guide to the city. The director gave Farina a small part in the film.

“The process was interesting to me, very interesting, but no way did I think this was a full-time career,” Farina told Cigar Aficionado in 1999. “I was 35 years old and had put in more than a decade as a policeman.”

But one thing led to another — including encouragement from the Steppenwolf Theatre’s John Malkovich — and soon Farina was getting more than bit parts.

Throughout his career, he was loyal to his hometown. Chicago Tribune writer Rick Kogan once wrote of the actor, “Dennis Farina has a Chicago neighborhood face. … Dennis Farina has a face that should be found at dawn, unloading crates of lettuce from the back of a truck on Randolph Street.”

Farina repaid the courtesy.

“My personality was formed by Chicago,” he told Cigar Aficionado. “It’s very American, very straightforward. If you can’t find it, or make it there, you won’t make it anywhere. It’s a very honest place.”

Farina had three sons and several grandchildren. He is survived by his longtime partner, Marianne Cahill.

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Zynga/AP

In many ways, the president’s remarks were amazingly similar to his famous speech on race as a senator and presidential candidate in 2008. It’s still worth reading that original speech. It’s unfortunate for America that virtually every problem remains the same.

What follows is an abbreviated and edited text of my response to his 2008 address, a speech I gave at the American Enterprise Institute nine days later. I think you will find it remarkably relevant today, almost without change:

I really do believe that we have a unique opportunity to think anew about the challenge of poverty, racism, and those Americans who have been left out of the pursuit of happiness.

I think that it is the opportunity which (President) Obama gave all of us in his speech to re-engage in a dialogue about poverty, race, and the future of those Americans who are currently unable to pursue happiness. That is something we should not casually set aside.

President Obama gets personal on race

Race and justice in America

(President) Obama said, and I quote:

“This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American children. This time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can’t learn, that those kids who don’t look like us are somebody else’s problem. The children of America are not those kids; they are our kids, and we will not let them fall behind in a 21st-century economy. Not this time.”

Read a transcript of President Obama’s remarks

Let me suggest to all of you that if you set aside the normal partisanship and cynicism of politics, that that’s a very powerful paragraph, and a paragraph worthy of response at the same level. I take up this opportunity, both to reject cynicism, but also to suggest that we find real solutions. But to find real solutions, I would argue, we have to have real honesty and a serious dialogue in which unpleasant facts are put on the table and bold proposals are discussed.

(President) Obama gave us a very courageous speech. We owe it to him and to the topic to take it very seriously and respond to the level of eloquence and systematic explanation that he gave us. He asked historic questions, and that is appropriate. And I want to make quite clear, my speech today is not an answer to (President) Obama. It is not a refutation. Hopefully, it is the beginning of a genuine dialogue in which people of all backgrounds can come together to have a serious conversation about America’s future.

Let me start by talking about the concept of anger, because I do think there’s an authenticity and legitimacy of anger by many groups in America. (President) Obama said in his speech:

“That anger may not get expressed in public, in front of white co-workers or white friends. But it does find voice in the barbershop or around the kitchen table. At times, that anger is exploited by politicians, to gin up votes along racial lines, or to make up for a politician’s own failings. … That anger is not always productive; indeed, all too often it distracts attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from squarely facing our own complicity in our condition.”

I think that that’s right, and I think that it’s important to recognize that anger can be a source of energy to create a better future — in which case it’s a very good thing. But if anger is a self-inflicted wound that limits us, it is a very bad and a very dangerous thing. And we have to be very careful about the role that anger plays in our culture. Tragically, what has happened is that cultural and political leaders have used anger as an excuse to avoid reality, as an excuse to avoid change, as an excuse to avoid accountability, because everything that is wrong is somehow somebody else’s fault.

Now, (President) Obama is right about the destructive impact of historic injustices and the anger they cause in different groups of Americans. And as a historian, of course, I agree with (William) Faulkner, as quoted in (President) Obama’s speech: “The past isn’t dead and buried. In fact, it isn’t even past.”

In my own life, I was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. I grew up in an integrated U.S. Army at Fort Riley, Kansas; in Orleans, France; and in Stuttgart, Germany. I did not encounter legal segregation until I was a junior in high school at Columbus, Georgia. Segregation was a horrible institution imposed by force by the state. It ruined the lives of people, it crippled their futures, it was a terrible injustice, and it is totally authentic to be angry about it.

As (President) Obama notes,”The legalized discrimination — where blacks were prevented, often through violence, from owning property, or loans were not granted to African-American business owners, or black homeowners could not access FHA mortgages, or blacks were excluded from unions, or the police force, or fire departments — meant that black families could not amass any meaningful wealth to bequeath to future generations.”

Anyone who thinks that there was not this destructive impact is simply not in touch with the reality of American history for African-Americans.

Other groups have reasons for anger. Native Americans have a claim probably at least as great if not greater than African-Americans. Japanese-Americans went through a period of internment in World War II. Jewish Americans have a history which includes the Holocaust but extends back before the Holocaust to pogroms in Russia; anti-Semitism in Poland; expulsion from Spain; and, in the last 50 years, an unrelenting and virtually hysterical effort by their Arab neighbors to exterminate them in a way which no other group has experienced.

So there are many groups that could find causes for anger. But I would go a step further. I would argue that as citizens of a country which asserted that we are all endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, every American has things to be angry about. Simply ask yourself, if it was your daughter or son, if it was your granddaughter or grandson, trapped in some of the disastrous conditions of the very poor and very dispossessed in America, how angry would you be?

Consider some examples: At the Rosebud Sioux reservation in 2007, (with) a population of 13,000, 144 young Native Americans tried to commit suicide — arguably the highest suicide rate in the United States.

In 2006, the poverty rate in America was 12.3%. For non-Hispanic whites, it was 8.2%, but for blacks, it was 24.3%.

In 2007, 46.8% of 12th-graders admitted to taking some sort of illicit drug in their lifetime; 35.6% of 10th-graders made the same admission; and in 2006, 20.9% of eighth-graders — let me repeat this, among eighth-grade Americans, every fifth American child — admitted to taking some sort of illicit drug.

(Nearly) 1% of the American population … is in prison. That is (roughly) the entire population of the cities of Washington, Baltimore, Atlanta, (and) Detroit … combined.

Now, how can you hear these things — in a country that says we are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights — and not be angry? So I think anger can be, should be, a universal American feeling about those things that dissatisfy us and about a culture and a government which is failing.

Consider homicides in our cities: In Philadelphia in 2006, there were 406 murders.

(The violence in Philadelphia has been reduced since 2008 thanks to new policing strategies. The larger problem of urban violence remains, however. In 2012, 532 people were murdered in Chicago. Nationwide, gang membership has increased by roughly 40%.)

To give you a sense of the scale of this, there’s an article called “The War in West Philadelphia,” written by Dr. John Pryor, who was an Iraq combat surgeon and an emergency room doctor in Philadelphia. This is what he said:

“In the swirl of screams and moving figures, my mind drifted to my recent experience in Iraq as an Army surgeon. There we dealt regularly with ‘MASCALS,’ or mass-casualty situations. In Iraq, ironically, I found myself drawing on my experience as a civilian trauma surgeon each time a MASCAL would overrun the combat hospital. As nine or ten patients from a firefight rolled in, I sometimes caught myself saying ‘just like another Friday night in West Philadelphia.’ The wounds and nationalities of the patients are different, but the feelings of helplessness, despair and loss are the same. In Iraq, soldiers die for freedom, for honor, for their country and for their buddies. Here in Philadelphia, they die without honor, without purpose, for no country, for no one.”

Now how can you hear that about your country and a great city and young people being killed, and not have some sense of anger? You should have a sense of anger about problems not solved, conditions not improved, and people not helped.

The question is — and I think this is where (President) Obama began to get a little off the mark — what do you do with the anger? We have to move from anger to courage, from blaming to solving. But if we want to save lives instead of being angry about their loss, we have to have real courage. As Lincoln said, we have to think anew.

Now, let me say, the rest of what I’m going to say today — if you think the current system is working — what I’m going to say is far too bold and far too willing to change what’s happening.

But is anybody really prepared to defend the current system? And I think it will be very hard to go around this country and find anyone willing to stand up and suggest that the current system is working, particularly for the poorest and weakest of Americans.

The tragic truth is that the current system is not working because of two topics we don’t like to talk about: bad culture and bad government. And bad culture and bad government intersect to reinforce each other, to create human and financial cost beyond anything we could have imagined a quarter-century ago.

The tragic truth is that at the end of segregation, the great moment of opportunity for African-Americans, we had a failure of government and a failure of culture. The rise of big bureaucracy in the Great Society starting in 1965 combined with the rise of a counterculture which despised middle-class values and which taught the poor patterns and habits of destruction — and those two patterns of bad bureaucracy reinforcing bad culture have led to a disaster.

Charles Murray captured part of this in an extraordinary book in the mid-1980s called “Losing Ground,” which was the seminal work in being able to pass welfare reform, in which he demonstrated that the patterns we were building were actively destructive of the poor.

Marvin Olasky extended that critique in a brilliant book written in 1994 called “The Tragedy of American Compassion.” Olasky outlined the values and principles of the great 19th-century social reformers, who all believed that helping people out of poverty required tough love and work requirements. He cited reformer after reformer who condemned the compassionate wealthy who wanted to give people something for nothing. The reformers of the 19th century were convinced that giving away money subsidized bad behavior and encouraged people to remain dependent, and in many cases, to remain addicted to drugs and to alcohol.

The modern redistributionist model of bureaucratic welfare was an outgrowth of a leftist social critique of society, according to Olasky. He documented the leftist desire to create a right to money without effort. He cited advocate after advocate on the 20th-century left who insisted that a large underclass of permanently poor people was acceptable, and that it was cultural imperialism to insist that they acquire habits of discipline and self-management in order to lead full lives as independently productive citizens.

“The Tragedy of American Compassion” made clear that the fight over welfare reform was, at its heart, a cultural and moral fight over the nature of being American and the requirements of a full and healthy citizenship. Understood on those terms, the existing welfare system was indefensible as bad government and bad culture. It was bad government and bad culture combined in a way that crippled the lives of people.

In 1996, we reformed the welfare system, but we did not change the cultural values which were destroying opportunities and crippling lives, nor did we uproot the destructive institutions of bad government in education, urban bureaucracy, and tax policy. The bad cultural signals are routine, they’re pervasive in the mass media. They surround us. They’re in songs, they’re on television, they’re in radio, and they are really destructive of sound behavior and of the opportunity to get out of poverty.

You don’t have a community that creates wealth, that ends up prosperous and safe and gives kids a better future, if everyone is taught to stand around demanding that somebody else pay for everything. And this is a core challenge.

Should this be a country in which every person learns to work, every person learns to save, every person learns to have a better future, and, by the way, is therefore responsible for working, saving, and creating a better future?

Or is this a country where you shouldn’t have to do all those things because it’s too hard, and someone should take care of you? In which case, the question becomes: Who’s the someone, and why do you think they’ll stay here? It’s a fundamental question.

This is a cultural problem, and I want to start with that. Because … if you want to replace a world of poverty with a world of prosperity, it begins with fundamental cultural change. And if you want to reinforce that cultural change, you want to design government policies that reward the right behaviors and make it expensive to have the wrong behaviors.

This is not complicated, but I want to repeat it. The first step is to decide the culture that you want. And if you want a culture of prosperity, you have to establish the values of that culture. You then have to redesign government so it is rewarding those who follow the culture of prosperity, and making it expensive for those who in fact are determined to reject being part of the world of prosperity. Because you want to send signals that say this is the right way to go, this is the wrong way to go. This is the heart of how healthy societies operate. It’s what Bill Cosby in many ways has been trying to say both in his speeches and in his recent book.

We need bold, courageous solutions that dare to be politically incorrect.

(President) Obama quoted Faulkner, but he would have done well to have quoted more from Faulkner, especially Faulkner’s 1950 Nobel Prize acceptance speech. Faulkner at that point describes the importance of faith and the importance of optimism. He says:

“The poet’s, the writer’s duty, is to write about these things. It is his privilege to help man endure, by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past. The poet’s voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to helping him endure and prevail.”

So how do we endure and prevail?

There are seven areas. Stopping crime and ensuring public safety; replacing the destructive culture of adolescence with the return to young adulthood; creating a new dynamic of jobs, health, and wealth creation for all Americans; using modern technology and modern science to turn disabilities into capabilities; replacing cities of poverty with cities of prosperity; ensuring true happiness and a true citizenship with a real right to pursue happiness for all Americans; and creating a 21st-century system of law enforcement and appropriate punishment with a decisively new model of prisons.

I have given you a large and sweeping overview. I hope this is the beginning of a genuine dialogue. I think it would be tremendous if (President) Obama would be willing to actually talk about solutions, not merely the analysis. How would you truly help Native American reservations? How would you truly rethink the process by which Detroit has become a disaster? And how would you learn the lessons of economic growth around the planet? And apply them to try to create, once again in America, the fastest growing, most dynamic, and most entrepreneurial society in the world?

And I think that we should engage (President Obama) in a positive way. Not to score points. Not to try to prove he’s wrong. But to say, “Let’s agree in principle that every American is endowed by their Creator with the right to pursue happiness.” It is the interest of every American to reach out and make sure that right is truly made real.

I think this is a topic well worth spending the rest of the year on. I hope it is one that can lead to the belief that together, we can create real change. And that real change can lead to a dramatically better American future.

Note: These abbreviated remarks were adapted from a speech Newt Gingrich delivered at the American Enterprise Institute on March 27, 2008, entitled,”The Obama Challenge: What Is the Right Change to Help All Americans Pursue Happiness and Create Prosperity?”

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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Newt Gingrich.

Editor’s note: LZ Granderson, who writes a weekly column for CNN.com, was named journalist of the year by the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association and was a 2011 Online Journalism Award finalist for commentary. He is a senior writer and columnist for ESPN the Magazine and ESPN.com. Follow him on Twitter @locs_n_laughs.

(CNN) — Tavis Smiley: Bitter, party of one.

What else can you say about an accomplished but jaded black scholar who continues to behave like a Twitter troll when it comes to President Obama? Why does he unfairly criticize Obama? Could it be because of a bruised ego?

It may have started back in February 2008.

Smiley, an author, media personality and leading voice in the black community, invited then-Sen. Barack Obama to speak at his “State of the Black Union” forum in New Orleans. Obama declined, opting instead to campaign because he was locked in a tough primary with Sen. Hillary Clinton, who did attend the forum.

In his place, Obama offered to send his wife, Michelle. Anyone who has seen the first lady speak knows this is hardly a consolation prize.

Smiley said no thanks.

Obama sent a letter, reiterating the importance of the forum, and asked Smiley to reconsider.

He didn’t.

And thus, the rift.

In 2011, Smiley was on C-Span claiming that Obama was “the first president in my professional career that hasn’t invited me to the White House.” Though truth be told, I’m not prone to inviting people who diss my better half over to the house either.

Not that I’m suggesting Smiley shouldn’t be able to interview or criticize the president.

In fact, I have challenged some of President Obama’s policies and decisions for years in my columns, on TV and over radio. But I’ve always tried to do so in context. So, for those of you enamored with Smiley’s recent criticism of the president’s remarks about race, which he described as “weak as pre-sweetened Kool-Aid,” remember it’s all about context.

In this case, the context includes their bumpy history.

Same goes for Smiley’s partner-in-whine, Cornel West, who was so upset that he received one ticket to the 2009 inauguration instead of the requested three that afterward he compared Obama to Machiavelli.

Before ticket-gate, West went on the trail for Obama.

After the incident, West went off on Obama.

Last year, West called the Democratic president a “Rockefeller Republican in blackface” while supposedly on an awareness tour with Smiley to talk about poverty. The idea behind the initiative was a noble one. Unfortunately, when they weren’t talking about the poor, they would throw random haymakers at the president, like West’s “blackface” remark.

As a result, media coverage spent more time focused on the jabs than on ways to lift the poor out of poverty.

This week, West called Obama a “global George Zimmerman” in an interview with Democracy Now. Also while a guest on Smiley’s radio show, the Princeton University professor said that MSNBC host and Obama supporter, the Rev. Al Sharpton, “probably deep down wants to be critical of the president, but he can’t because he’s still on the Obama plantation.”

West also insinuated that other blacks who aren’t as critical of the president as he and Smiley are also residents of this so-called plantation.

Perhaps we should make that: Bitter, party of two.

In fairness, it is hard to prove that the vitriol the pair spews in Obama’s way all stems from perceived snubs from a few years ago. But the timing of it all is curious. And the personal attacks — West once said Obama was afraid of “free black men” — make it difficult to believe yesteryear’s leftovers are not still on today’s menu.

Now, I do believe poverty is the least talked about major issue we have in this country. And it seemed like the entire 2012 general election was focused on the rich and declining middle class, with little to no talk about where the middle class was declining to.

West and Smiley’s criticism of Obama for this omission is reasonable, especially since silence on this issue has a big impact on the black community.

A recent study released by Harvard University shows how difficult it is for people born in the lower 5% to reach the top 5%. In some parts of the country, the chances of moving up the income ladder are as high as 35%. But in regions with a large black population, such as near Charlotte, North Carolina; Memphis, Tennessee, and Atlanta, it is as low as 4%.

To be born in poverty and then die in poverty is an American nightmare. So I applaud West and Smiley for using their platform to draw attention to the often overlooked problem.

But if they’re motivated by personal grievances, shame on them for displaying their pettiness while touting important policy critiques.

First of all, it’s self-serving.

Second, it’s obvious. Earlier this year syndicated radio host Tom Joyner, who fired Smiley for his unjust attacks on the president in 2008, said, “Tavis is fascinated with his own legacy, and that’s not good. He wants more than anything to be remembered the way Dr. King was, and to somehow make that kind of mark on the world.”

Translation: It’s all about Smiley.

When Obama didn’t accept the invitation to speak at Smiley’s forum in 2008, Smiley interpreted it as an affront to his influence in the black community. When Obama opted not to attend in 2009 — although he did address the crowd via video conference — that was the proverbial final straw.

Smiley and West have been aggressively attacking the president, sandwiching legitimate concerns about poverty in between over-the-top comments that far too often detract from what they claim is their primary focus — helping poor black people. Their comments may grab headlines and land them on Sunday morning talk shows, but how have they engaged with the administration in finding solutions on poverty?

Instead, Smiley and West appear to be two egocentric men who believe they alone are the face of black intellectualism. And any black talking heads who don’t side with them have, in West’s words, “sold their souls.”

Welcome to the ivory tower version of black on black crime.

Again, I’m all for fairly criticizing the man in the White House. But it feels that West and Smiley are more upset that Obama didn’t kiss their rings before he walked through the door than about anything he’s done since he got inside.

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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of LZ Granderson.