PRESIDENT OBAMA entered office promising to be a different kind of politician - one who would speak honestly with the American people about the hard choices they face and would help make those hard calls.
Tuesday nights State of the Union Address would have been the moment to make good on that promise. He disappointed.
Its not that everything he said in the speech was wrong; on the contrary
we agree with much of it.
To remain competitive in the world and to reverse the trend of rising inequality at home the government will have to invest as Mr. Obama proposed in scientific research education and infrastructure. To stay safe abroad the country cant stint on national defense or foreign aid. Republican visions of dramatically smaller government are unrealistic and potentially dangerous.
But where will the money come from?
We will make sure this is fully paid for Mr. Obama said as he grandly pledged to redouble road and bridge repair. With higher gasoline taxes? Traditionally that has been the way. Mr. Obama didnt elaborate.
The president promised to freeze discretionary spending - exempting that is defense veterans affairs homeland security Medicare and Social Security - for five years. Given that hed already promised a three-year freeze this was more incremental than earthshaking and as he acknowledged in any case affects only 12 percent of the federal budget.
The reality as Mr. Obama understands is that the country is headed for fiscal catastrophe unless it does some politically unpopular things:
- Unwind the Bush tax cuts including for the middle class;
- Reduce projected Social Security benefits for future retirees exempting the poor and disabled;
- Rein in the cost of health care;
- Limit popular income tax deductions.
Mr. Obama knows this but last night he did little to prepare Americans for any of it. The best you could say is that he left the door open to work with Congress on these issues.
In his first year in office Mr. Obama said he couldnt confront the nations long-term fiscal peril because of imminent financial collapse. In his second year he said he needed health-care reform first to bend the curve of rising health-care costs. He called for a bipartisan commission to study the debt and promised to pivot in his third year to fiscal reform.
Now that
bipartisan commission has reported but Mr. Obama didnt fully endorse any of its recommendations.
To the contrary he promised more jobs for teachers and construction workers. He warned against slashing Social Security benefits. Corporate tax reform is fine but if its revenue-neutral it only postpones - and makes more politically difficult - the task of narrowing the nations deficit.
So what happens now?
Maybe some members of Congress will display the courage the president has lacked. Maybe Mr. Obama in the budget he proposes next month will grapple more realistically with the hard choices than he did Tuesday night.
But even if he does how can he expect public support if he hasnt made the case? From the man who promised to change Washington it seemed all too drearily familiar.
