The Wisconsin Democrats who had fled Madison nearly two months ago to derail union legislation have finally decided to return with their tails between their legs to uphold the civic obligations they were elected by their constituents to perform…except at times when they cannot have their way. Two months must be how long it takes to regenerate a spine.
President Obama implored Congressional leaders to “act like grown-ups” today, referring to the threat of a partial government shutdown if a budget agreement cannot be reached by Friday. Obama sternly suggested they stop “spending our time quibbling around the edges”. Our deficit and the immediate urgency that has presented itself is no quibble. What kind of understatement is that? There is no quibbling at a time like this. And what edges are there? There is no edge to our deficit as our economy currently stands. There is no reachable edge to balance or teeter along. This deficit needs to be attacked head on and Barack Obama and his counterparts are the quibblers. Republicans are attempting to slash away at the deficit in the manner they were elected to do and Obama is obstructing this dire goal. What good comes from not cutting our spending habits at the knees? America will be able to pretend for yet another year that everything is perfectly fine and our economy will be that much worse at this time next year. This cycle must be broken and Barack Obama does not seem to have any interest in putting this country on a strict spending diet for its own good.
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan warns that our country is at a “tipping point” in its debt crisis, which stands to “curtail free enterprise” and make way for a “gradual moral-political decline as dependency and passivity weaken the nation’s character.” Ryan is proposing $6.2 trillion in cuts for the 2012 fiscal year, which begins on Tuesday (and yes, that is in one week from now even though Congress has not even agreed on the 2011 fiscal year budget). This is the sort of stern and assertive leadership our country needs right now and which Barack Obama is obstructing from happening. I don’t get it. Whatever Obama’s big picture is he will never arrive at it until some real effort is shown by him to lop an entire limb off the body of our deficit…at least a figurative finger or toe and not just a single hair.
1,448.2 miles to go.
President Obama implored Congressional leaders to “act like grown-ups” today, referring to the threat of a partial government shutdown if a budget agreement cannot be reached by Friday. Obama sternly suggested they stop “spending our time quibbling around the edges”. Our deficit and the immediate urgency that has presented itself is no quibble. What kind of understatement is that? There is no quibbling at a time like this. And what edges are there? There is no edge to our deficit as our economy currently stands. There is no reachable edge to balance or teeter along. This deficit needs to be attacked head on and Barack Obama and his counterparts are the quibblers. Republicans are attempting to slash away at the deficit in the manner they were elected to do and Obama is obstructing this dire goal. What good comes from not cutting our spending habits at the knees? America will be able to pretend for yet another year that everything is perfectly fine and our economy will be that much worse at this time next year. This cycle must be broken and Barack Obama does not seem to have any interest in putting this country on a strict spending diet for its own good.
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan warns that our country is at a “tipping point” in its debt crisis, which stands to “curtail free enterprise” and make way for a “gradual moral-political decline as dependency and passivity weaken the nation’s character.” Ryan is proposing $6.2 trillion in cuts for the 2012 fiscal year, which begins on Tuesday (and yes, that is in one week from now even though Congress has not even agreed on the 2011 fiscal year budget). This is the sort of stern and assertive leadership our country needs right now and which Barack Obama is obstructing from happening. I don’t get it. Whatever Obama’s big picture is he will never arrive at it until some real effort is shown by him to lop an entire limb off the body of our deficit…at least a figurative finger or toe and not just a single hair.
1,448.2 miles to go.
