President Obama's speech - more of the same...

It seemed to me that President Obama had a clear shot, with his Wednesday night speech, to stake out a detailed position on how he and his fellow Democrats propose to reduce the deficit and begin paying down the huge federal debt we have accumulated. The Republicans had fired their shot, with Representative Ryan's detailed proposal, Obama had shown some (grudging) flexibility in the recent 2010 budget extension agreement, and he had the political cover that a  majority of the nation is seriously concerned about the debt. Now would have been the ideal time for a true statesman to take a leadership position.

Unfortunately, what we got was vintage Obama -- lots of eloquent words but little substance, no detail, and a rehash of the standard Democratic "tax the rich" rhetoric.  I guess it is pretty clear that if anyone is going to attack this debt problem realistically, it isn't going to be Obama, who seems to prefer being a politician to being a leader. I suppose he and his advisers think that his re-election chances are better if he "stays above the fray" and lets Pelosi and Reid fight the hard battles, and perhaps they are right.  But what a disappointment......!