Leadership is Dead...over here.

Remember that bygone era in American politics, the one in which our political leaders had sufficient nuts to do something other than pander and promise people that our lifestyle (and foreign policy) would never require the American people to make any sacrifices?

(The Greek emergency budget proposal) includes cuts in the salaries of public-sector workers, including lawmakers, higher taxes on cigarettes, fuel, gambling and luxuries, an increase in the value-added tax consumers pay on purchases, and an increase in the retirement age for women in the public sector, (Minister) Papaconstantinou said.

Prime Minister George Papandreou earlier Sunday tried to rally the country behind the government.

"I know that our compatriots are being asked to make big sacrifices, but the alternative way would be disastrous and painful for us," he said in a televised Cabinet meeting. "It's not a pleasant decision for me, for any of us, but we are here to make the right decisions for our country," he insisted.

Can we get this guy an American citizenship?

I'm sure they'll be destroyed in the next elections, but that simply proves the point. More making difficult choices (real ones, not the fake right-wing American "tough choices") and less worrying about the consequences for one's own political career, please.