Obama’s leadership failure

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The Washington Post:

Obama’s leadership failure

By Robert J. Samuelson,

 

Jan 01, 2013 01:29 AM EST

The Washington PostPublished: December 31

 

 

The “fiscal cliff” is a massive failure of presidential leadership. The tedious and technical negotiations are but a subplot in a larger drama. Government can no longer fulfill all the promises it has made to various constituencies. Some promises will be reduced or disavowed. Which ones? Why? Only the president can pose these questions in a way that starts a national conversation over the choices to be made, but doing so requires the president to tell people things they don’t want to hear. That’s his job: to help Americans face unavoidable, if unpleasant, realities. Barack Obama has refused to play this role.

 

Instead, he has cast the long-term budget problem as a question of whether the richest 1 percent or 2 percent of the population should pay more in taxes. Not only that, but he has insisted that the higher taxes be paid by raising rates, as opposed to reducing various tax breaks (deductions, exemptions, preferential rates) enjoyed heavily by upscale Americans. The obsession with rates is bad policy (higher rates may threaten risk-taking, work effort and hiring) but qualifies as good politics: It signals Obama is macho; he’s tough on the rich

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Krauthammer: Obama showed ‘incredible arrogance’ in ‘astonishing’ press conference (video)

7:43 PM 12/31/2012

 

On Monday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Special Report,” Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer voiced his displeasure over President Barack Obama’s New Year’s Eve press conference, which came during intense fiscal cliff negotiations on Capitol Hill.

 

“I found it astonishing,” Krauthammer said. “Here he is — coming out to speak to the nation at a crucial moment in very delicate negotiations — and he comes out there with incredible arrogance. http://dailycaller.com/2012/12/31/krauthammer-obama-showed-incredible-arrogance-in-astonishing-press-conference-video/