Leadership Needed

In his Inaugural Address of 1861 Lincoln said, "The rule of a minority, as a permanent arrangement, is wholly inadmissible; so that, rejecting the majority principle, anarchy or despotism in some form is all that is left."  It seems that we are coming very close to "the rule of a minority".  

But Obama is still looking for conciliation and compromise.  He refused to invoke the 14th amendment, which says that "the validity of the public debt of the United States shall not be called into question", on the grounds that it was not clear that the amendment gave him the constitutional authority.  Yet, as we know, the constitution does not give him the authority to kill innocent people via drones.  As Bernard Weisberger writes, "Perhaps Obama is channeling Richard Nixon whose view was that in matters of national security, whatever the president does is not illegal."

Weisberger goes on:

We need a leader who will recognize the depth of the crisis and respond democratically but with strength and willingness to try unknown paths when needed. If the budget and debt ceiling wars break out again, perhaps President Obama might be persuaded that overcoming the dragon of minority rule by blackmail — once and for all — would be a shining addition to that legacy he so clearly craves. There is no law against hoping.