A Very Deep Hole

Bob Herbert of the New York Times is always one of my favorite reads.  He has the vision that is seemingly lacking--despite all our fond hopes--in President Obama.  I guess I'm feeling about him as I felt about President Carter: the time was right and ripe for a strong person of vision to seriously change the way this country was heading.  But neither president proved up to the task.

From Mr. Herbert's column on 7 June 2010:

For all the money that has been spent so far, the Obama administration and Congress have not made the kinds of investments that would put large numbers of Americans back to work and lead to robust economic growth. What is needed are the same things that have been needed all along: a vast program of infrastructure repair and renewal; an enormous national investment in clean energy aimed at transforming the way we develop and use energy in this country; and a transformation of the public schools to guarantee every child a first-rate education in a first-rate facility.

This would be a staggeringly expensive and difficult undertaking and would entail a great deal of shared sacrifice. (It would also require an end to our insane waste of resources on mindless and endless warfare.) The benefits over the long term would be enormous.

Bold and effective leadership would have put us on this road to a sustainable future. Instead, we’re approaching a dead end.

Our children deserve better.