Mr. President:
As far as the current debt crisis goes you have been compared to almost all of your predecessors in the presidency. Allow me to broaden the horizon of the discussion: To me you are in the situation Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder of Germany was in. He ran and won against the party of Helmut Kohl who, by the end of his last term was about as popular as George W. Bush was when you campaigned against the Republicans in 2007.
When Gerhard Schroeder took office Germany was overwhelmed by its public debt and there was not a glimmer of hope except for entitlement reform. Schroeder understood that it was his responsibility with his left-wing majority in the German parliament to accept the challenge of getting entitlement reform done. Only the left can do that. Were the Democrats in the opposition they would fry Republicans for being cold-hearted and going way overboard with their cutting of social programs. In Germany tough reforms can only be brought forth by the Social Democrats and I believe the same holds true for the United States.
Mr. President, only you and your party can get spending under control. It is the nature of the political game that you could never allow Republicans to do that. It’s your turn and it can be done. It has been done before.
Mr. President, please call Gerhard Schroeder and talk with him about getting entitlement reform done with the Social Democrats. I’m pretty sure his cell phone number is somewhere to be found in the White House.