Complain as they might, have U.S. Republicans themselves brought on the ‘political’ budget President Obama submitted for fiscal year 2013? For Germany’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung, columnist Nikolaus Piper asserts that while the ideas in the president’s ‘reasonable’ budget are correct, Republicans were never going to pass them – and that ‘given the Republicans who want to be president, one hopes that he will once again be named ‘Obama.’
For the Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Nikolaus Piper writes in part:
At the beginning of Obama’s tenure in 2009, the basic strategy seemed clear: Prevent a decline into depression by spending vast amounts of money; then prepare for a systematic reduction of the national debt. But this rational strategy collided with the reality of Washington’s party struggle. Everyone knows that the only way the budget can be restored is through a radical reform of the pension and health insurance systems for retirees.
However, anyone taking on these issues is committing political suicide – and presumably not just in Washington. Anyone asking for sacrifice gets voted out. Therefore, logic has been turned on its head: The debate that needs to take place about reforming social welfare isn’t talking place. Instead, Republicans are forcing Obama into an absurd race to cut short-term, usually very meaningful expenditures.
America has lost four years. Can it regain lost ground? This is what Europeans tend to underestimate: The United States, despite its decaying infrastructure, is a dynamic and highly productive economy. It is an economy that can withstand political error more than Europe’s; the U.S. can simply grow itself out of some of its problems. But this capacity to tolerate error has its limits. The next president must show leadership on the budget. And given the Republicans who want to be president, one hopes that he will once again be named “Obama.”
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