Hard choices and responsibility

Jacob Sullum of Reason magazine:

Last October, while campaigning in Toledo, Barack Obama called for "a new ethic of responsibility." The nation's economic troubles, he said, occurred partly because "everyone was living beyond their means," including politicians who "spent money they didn't have." In his inaugural address last month, Obama regretted "our collective failure to make hard choices" and heralded "a new era of responsibility."

It's becoming rapidly apparent that Obama is all sizzle and no steak. He talks a great game about change, personal responsibility, and hard choices but has offered up nothing of the kind. He has filled his White House with insiders, gone back on his word on the appointment of lobbyists, been unfazed by tax dodging among his appointees and has responded to the economic downturn with a pork-laden piece of legislation that seemingly reveals new levels of wastefulness each day that it is subject to public scrutiny.

At a time when more and more Americans are facing tough financial choices Congress is trying to figure out whether it prefers the gold plated $825 billion House version of the so-called stimulus package or the platinum plated $900 billion Senate version.

While I am genuinely sorry that it has come to this -- I would be all for a truly changed Washington where the politicians actually make tough choices and sacrifies -- I am also in some ways glad. It was disturbing to see millions of people fall into a swoon at the sight of Barack Obama and inspired into rapture by his empty rhetoric and platitudes. Perhaps we will learn not to treat politicians as rock stars and worship them as the false idols they are.