Stop Playing Nice, Mr. President
By Wayne Dawkins
Please, no more self-deprecating smiles, Mr. President.
Barack Obama was trying to show the American people calm and maturity in the face of crazy, but time for that strategy is running out. Obama smiled when CBS News’ Scott Pelley asked him about the latest pushback by Republican leaders on cutting a deal to raise the $14 billion U.S. debt ceiling. An approaching Aug. 2 deadline threatens global economic Armageddon.
House Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, that day said the overextended ceiling was “his [President Obama’s] problem.”
Really? Isn’t the debt crisis American peoples’ problem, including our top elected leaders?
GOP leaders have resisted the notion of shared sacrifice to solve this problem. They have repeatedly balked at a 3-1 ratio of government program cuts vs. closing of tax loopholes for the well-off. There must be compromise among the Republicans, the Democrats [who are chaffing from the proposed cuts], and the president.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said resolution of the debt limit crisis was “unattainable” as long as Obama was in the White House.
But bipartisan negotiators figured out how to cut $4 trillion from the debt anyway and give the fragile U.S. economy a chance to heal.
The approaching debt deadline looks like an oversized meteor aimed at annihilating us.
Meanwhile, in that CBS News interview, Obama was not smiling when he said he could not guarantee that 70 million Social Security, Veterans benefits and other government checks totaling $20 billion could go out on time after Aug. 3.
As commander in chief, President Obama must not blink. He needs to resist the tendency to smile when opponents try to bury him.
Instead, he should bare his teeth like a provoked canine.
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