That's kinda the point Joe

From Joe Scarborough's weekly column in Politico:

"White House watchers believe the president will not touch Social Security until he is safely ensconced in his second term."

This is seemingly passing comment in the column is unfortunately the problem for as long as politics has existed in the human community. When unpopular decisions need to be made, political leaders don't make them because it reduces their chances of getting re-elected. It's not necessarily a sign of cowardice. That political leader believes he or she is doing the right thing for his or her town, city, state, and country and can only continue doing so while in office and not out of it.

That's part of the reason presidents don't attempt any real reform until their second term, such as Reagan's 1986 Tax Hike. Obama addressing Social Security now would be akin to George H.W. Bush breaking his "read my lips, no new taxes" pledge. Presidents make controversial decisions in their second term because they don't have a re-election to worry about. As a two-term president, your place in history will be determined by how much you accomplish, not just if you're a two-termer. Unfortunately the fickle voting public will never re-elect you to a second term if you do something unpopular in your first term no matter how beneficial it is to the greater good.

Why is that a problem? Because the loss is usually due to the unpopular decision and, more often than not, the challenger will have run on a platform to get rid of whatever good yet unpopular thing the incumbent did, setting the whole country back.

So isn't the issue equally divided between the politicians in charge as well as the naivete of the voting public?

But it's so expensive already!

I know I'm always plugging this guy's column but today's is another great one. If you think gasoline prices in the US have gotten ridiculously high of late, here's a little tidbit to pique your interest:

"What does a gallon of gas cost today in England, Italy and Germany?"
"...in all three countries, a gallon of gas today costs more than $8!"

Enjoy the rest of the column. It's a good one.

American Express Open Forum: 8 Powerful Communication Lessons from the White House

Great article posted on OpenForum.com about how small businesses can utilize some of the tools the White House uses for communication (with examples). These are:

1. Multiple communication streams
2. Be Simple and Creative
3. Solicit Input
4. Use Photos and Video Liberally
5. Produce Lots of (Good) Segmented Content
6. Internal Cross Marketing
7. Nothing Beats Real-Time Information
8. Build Interactivity Into Everything You Do

Definitely worth reading for anyone that needs a communications plan for a business, entertainment career, or any other kind of professional or personal marketing.

"You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em..."

Ezra Klein writes a great opinion piece detailing the history of health-care reform in the United States and calling the Republican Party's bluff on their "alternative". He says it's "Put-up-or-shut-up time" for Republicans. Personally, I think their position is more like that of "The Gambler".

U-G-L-Y, You ain't got no alibi...

This chart, to begin with, is U-G-L-Y. Read the blog post on the Economist to really get scared.

Nikki Haley is born on January 20th? Hmm...

The New York Times Magazine did an interesting interview with South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley. Among some of the topics discussed are her disqualification as a 5-year old from a local pageant because she could not be classified as either 'White' or 'Black' to fit into the two categories of the pageant as well as her conversion to Christianity from Sikhism.

Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker first floated the idea a few years ago of Haley being part of a national ticket. With the dearth of viable candidates on the Republican Side in 2012, the GOP is starting to look like the 2004 Democratic Party, who essentially chose the least objectionable establishment candidate that ended up being overshadowed by a new upstart at the convention (some guy named 'Obama' or something like that.)

Could Nikki Haley be the 2012 GOP version of the 2004 Barack Obama? After reading the interview, I have a feeling she's hoping for a very happy 45th birthday for the presidential inauguration in 2017.

If you don't build it, don't ask why they didn't come...

Fareed Zakaria makes a point that is an open secret to everyone that does not hold a political office of some kind:

"The federal government spends between $4 and $5 on elderly people for every dollar it spends on children.

Why is this happening? To put it bluntly, children don't vote or make campaign contributions, and the elderly do both aggressively. Our political system is hyper-responsive to votes and money, so the natural consequence is that those who organize, vote and send in dollars are looked after."

It's sad that politicians talk about the burden on "our children" while they do nothing to stop the burden they are putting on "our children". All-in-all, this is a great article to read because, as always, Zakaria's pragmatic analysis is right on the money.