Challenge

When was the last time an American President challenged the American people? I'll save you the troubled of going to Wikipedia. It was Lyndon Johnson, with the War on Poverty.

That is both a symbol and a cause of our national decline. Where is the President to challenge us to rebuild our roads, bridges, water and sewer systems, to provide broadband to all areas of the nation, to improve an educational system that has fallen to 12th among industrialized nations in the proportion of college graduates?

Yes, its true that President Obama has raised all of these issues, but he has not used the power of his office to challenge the American people to participate in these efforts, not because they will help in the short run, but because they are imperative in the long run. And that is one reason--just one, but an important one--why his numbers are unfavorable.

The fact is that people, especially Americans, want to be challenged. Why politicians--Republicans and Democrats--have forgotten this remains a mystery.