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Tuesday, January 14, 2014

The Price of Ego

Our country needs leadership that strives to do what is right for America, not leadership whose main goal is looking good on the evening news.  Do we need to adjust Social Security so that the program will last to cover the retirements of all Americans who are now contributing to it?  The simple answer is a clear "yes".  But do we have leaders who are willing to tell the hard truth to the country and possibly suffer the wrath of those who think that things will just go on as before no matter what happens?  The simple answer is a clear "no".  After five years in office, president Obama has done nothing to fix any of the entitlement programs which are quickly bleeding the country dry.  Instead, Obama has expanded these programs and expedited the day when they must surely fail.  This is the same Obama who spoke about how he would repair Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid and all the other entitlements when he ran for office.

The issue, however, is not entitlements.  The issue is the need for leaders who put the good of the country above their own success.  Right now, there is a kerfuffle in the Middle East because the Israeli Defense Minister said that John Kerry's vision of a secure peace for Israel has neither security nor peace in it.  The Defense Minister also said that there really is no negotiation going on between Israel and the Palestinians but only between Israel and Kerry.  He even said that the best thing that could happen would be for Kerry to get the Nobel Peace Prize and then leave Israel alone.  I don't know if the Israeli minister is correct.  I do know that much of the foreign policy undertaken by Obama and Kerry has been designed more to make them look good and not much at all to help our national position.  Think about Syria.  Obama got a "victory" when he got Assad to agree to "destroy" Syria's chemical weapons.  Of course, despite the press, the real facts are that Obama agreed to let Assad stay in power, to cut off the moderate rebels, to accept unverified destruction of only part of Syria's chemical arsenal, and to allow Russia and Iran to keep armed presences in Syria from which to menace Syria's neighbors.  If Obama wanted to mimic George Bush, he could have put up a sign that read "mission accomplished" and told Kerry when he came back with this agreement, "You did a helluva job, Brownie...err...I mean Kerry."

For too long we have had leaders whose goal is to avoid blame while taking credit no matter how that affects the USA.  We need new ones. 




 

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