The consensus is that we are bankrupt. This consensus holds that the only way to get out of this is root and branch reform of our state and Federal governments. Likewise there is consensus that it will take the cooperation of both parties to do this because the choices are all painful and neither party is willing to do it alone because it will inevitably suffer defeat from the angry losers. One party, the Republicans, has been (somewhat unwillingly) levered by its Tea Party base into a stance of willingness to make the hard choices. The other party, led by Barack Obama, has the opportunity to accept this willingness and join in making the hard choices bipartisan. By doing so, they could put the nation first and do what a clear majority of Americans want.
President Obama had a golden opportunity to take up this partnership at the SOTU. Instead we got high speed rail and solar shingles.
Yes Republicans opposed his initiatives and said nasty things about him - that's their job, one that Democrats performed admirably for 8 years under W. Bush. That does not justify him refusing to take up the central challenge (or in his parlance, the Sputnik) of our time. He has the keys, it's his job to lead and he's chosen not to. Why?
My answer's really simple: he's incompetent and a coward. We deserve better.
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