Adversity reveals character. Adversity reveals characters as well.
Budget negotiations qualify as adversity. In this drama, the adversarial characters are Congress and the President. While they differ in name and style, both are suited-up for battle in gear made from similar character material.
Congress likes money, lots of money, and burns through it with the pace of a counterfeiter rushing to stay a step ahead of the feds. The President likes money, too. He spends it with the frenzy of a foodie with an open line of credit at stuff-your-face buffet.
The short bio for these characters reads as follows: Congress thrives on pork, while Obama sates his inner porker. If government has a system of checks-and-balances, it doesn't work here – both characters are out-of-control gluttons.
The economy is wobbly, revenues have slowed and the federal budget is fated to explode. Yet it doesn’t occur to these gluttons to tighten their belts and reduce consumption. Washington is called the “Beltway” for good reason; it wears its belt on the last notch. Role model characters? You bet!
The trademark of a leader is doing, not jawing. Strong leaders never command constituents to carry out orders they personally ignore. Deeds reflect the character of someone to follow and respect.
During times of adversity, a nation needs strong leaders. Where do we find someone to fill the bill? From whom do we draw inspiration? Congress? Too risky. Or maybe the house at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?
If the fat guy in the cartoon resembles the skinny guy in the White House, it’s not a coincidence – the comparison is paradoxical and intentional. It’s paradoxical, because Skinny WH Guy will never get fat and he can eat all the junk he wants. It’s intentional, merely to point out that as the nation’s Hypocrite-in-Chief, he can snort barrels of baked brie, while we graze on bushels of raw spinach. What a character!
If the budget war copies the same strategy as the war on obesity, Skinny WH Guy shows how to win. Last month in Iowa, he made a pilgrimage to his favorite eatery, Ross Restaurant, where he ordered four “Magic Mountains,” the house specialty – “…grilled Texas toast topped with loose steamed hamburger meat, piled high with a choice of French fries or hash browns, homemade cheddar cheese sauce, as well as two Volcanoes, which is the Magic Mountain with the addition of a scoop of 5-alarm meat chili and onions on top.”
Worth noting: the restaurant is a 24-hour operation, an ideal command post for a leader to showcase his non-stop subservience to hypocrisy. How's that for a character with "character?" Positively entertaining.
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