The Courage of the President

Lovechilde's recent post linked to an article by David Corn which argued, quite persuasively in my view (and that of others, including Rudy Giuliani), that ordering the attack on Osama bin Ladin's compound was a courageous act. Obama could have ordered the military to simply wipe the place out with missiles but then there might never have been certainty that Osama was dead. Yet ordering the assault was a huge risk. As Corn points out had any of a hundred things gone wrong it could have ended in disaster and Jimmy Carter would be the refrain of the day from the right. But the President judged the risks and rewards and took the bold course.

This boldness stands in sharp contrast to the timidity he has shown in the domestic arena. He has time after time declined to take on the Republicans, and instead has adopted their framing of issues like the deficit.

Now he has a moment in which he can act with the same decisiveness and courage in the domestic arena. The Republicans have tied themselves to the Ryan Plan. Polls show that the plan's proposal for trashing medicare is terrifically unpopular but that there is a huge group that is undecided about the plan as a whole. Between the unpopularity of the Ryan plan, the Trump sideshow that the Republican Presidential nominating process has become, and now the huge popularity boost that the death of Osama will certainly bring, Obama has a golden opportunity to turn the tables and present a decisive budget plan that addresses the real problems we face like unemployment, increasing income inequality, and a stagnant economy. My preferred solution is the People's Budget, but I have no illusions that the President will adopt it. What he does need to do is make a bold statement that those who have benefited most need to contribute more in taxes and that a great and rich nation will not prosper by abandoning the old, the sick, and the needy.

The first test of his courage will come this summer with the fight over increasing the debt limit. He needs to stand up the the Republicans in the game of chicken they are playing and make it clear to the American people the consequences of their game: a default by the United States Government. He is a great communicator when he is at his best. He need to combine those skills with the courage he demonstrated this week.

Be brave Mr. President.