Several years ago when my co-author Bill Harris and I decided on Adrift as the title for our book, I wondered whether it would be still timely. Would it still capture the mindset and the direction of the country by the time it was published? Perhaps the new President would change the dynamic. Perhaps the country would grasp the urgency of our declining status and commit to work together to turn things around.
Oh, to be young again.
Now we witness new dueling plans/dueling speeches flogged on national TV by Obama and Boehner, just days away from the August 2 debt ceiling deadline. This nearly eight months after a strong bipartisan plan for cutting the deficit and the debt was shaped by the President's own fiscal commission. It's as if our political leaders are determined to drive us over a cliff.
We can only hope that Americans will recognize that hyper-partisan, crisis-driven decision-making is not in the best interests of the country, whatever the course taken. And that means demanding more from our leadership--and more from ourselves.
