Time For The President To Act Like A President

The more I read about President Obama’s proposed budget, the more disappointed I am.  I agree with the thrust of this editorial from the Washington Post:  the President has refused to make the hard choices, and instead is proposing phony “cuts” and using budgeting gimmickry to achieve the illusory “savings” he and officials in his administration are claiming.

I heard parts of the President’s press conference and was even more disappointed.  The President sounded like he was being coy and was engaging in maneuvering, rather than actually leading.  He is trying to position things so that Republicans make the hard choices, and he doesn’t take any political risks.  What kind of leadership is that?  If we have a President who is not willing to lead, what does that say about his qualities as a President?

I would guess that most Americans consider our ridiculous, seemingly unending deficit spending to be the most significant domestic problem facing our country.  The President should be tackling that problem — but he hasn’t, and by all appearances he won’t.  He obviously doesn’t consider our rapidly mounting, crushing debt to be sufficiently serious to command his attention or to warrant his expenditure of any political capital.  It really makes you wonder — if President Obama isn’t willing to lead on the most important domestic issue of the day, why did he run for President in the first place?

The Emptiness Of Cubicle Life, Confirmed

There was an awful story in the news yesterday:  a county employee in Los Angeles died at her desk, in her cubicle, and was not found until the next day by a security guard.  The police think she may have been dead for as long as a full day before her body was found.

The story sounds like the over-the-top plot of an Office Space knock off, but unfortunately it is true.  Think for a moment about what that story means.  For hours, apparently, no one passed by the worker’s cubicle and noticed her condition.  No one stopped by to visit or interact or checked to see why she wasn’t showing up for a meeting or returning phone calls.  When everyone left for the night and turned out the light, no one saw that she still was there, slumped over her desk.  For anyone who works in a large office environment, it is the ultimate nightmare.

What does it say about the solitary and empty nature of cubicle work in a modern office if a worker can die at their desk without someone — anyone! — noticing for a full day?  In view of this kind of story, can anyone really wonder why so many people find their cubicle existence a cold, separate, unsatisfying, soul-deadening experience?