Brain Bits To Go

In light of the recent debt crisis fiasco in the US, it seems the President has been appointed as the official fall guy. I’m not claiming to be smarter than all the anti-Obama crowd, but I would like to shine different light on him.

According to A variety of news sources, President Obama’s debt reduction proposal was the only one on offer which embraced actual compromise. He was willing to sacrifice some social welfare funding in return for closing some tax loopholes and removing certain tax breaks for corporations and the “ultra-rich”. His plan would have, through a combination of savings and increased revenue, provided a large enough debt reduction to have avoided the recent credit downgrade by S&P. Oh and it would have resolved the whole issue weeks sooner and avoided further destabilization of world markets.

Of course none of that was acceptable to either the Democrats or the Republicans. After all, why elect these people if not to watch them later act like irresponsible, self-absorbed jackasses? The Democrats hated the social-spending cuts, the Republicans hated the tax increases and each side hated the other.

So the Democrats put forward their own proposal which the Republicans hated. The Republicans developed a proposal the Democrats hated. The Tea Party took over the Republican party (which made everyone hate everyone else even more). All the while, the world watched in amazement and mounting fear as the worlds largest economy was allowed to slide ever closer the abyss of default.

When time ran out and it became obvious that neither side was willing to do the right thing, something had to be done. When elected members of both parties insisted on putting partisan ideology ahead of the good of the country, the good of the very citizens who put their faith in them. President Obama did what any true leader should do. He took the personal hit that could well cost him the Presidency next year. He signed into law an unpopular compromise which made many in his own party turn on him.

It wasn’t weakness that made the President sign that bill, it was selflessness. It was greatness. President Obama chose to sacrifice himself, to throw away his career, to save his country from a disaster. A disaster brought about by lesser people who when the moment came, could’t rise above themselves. People who chose loyalty to party dogma over loyalty to the people of the United States.

Whatever the media may say, and regardless of the outcome of next years election. I will always hold President Obama in the highest regard. In that moment when he offered up his career, his political future, his personal reputation, as ransom for those who chose him their leader: In that moment, he showed Greatness.

Cheers, Winston