His programme, presented to parliament on November 18th, was studded with daring reforms.
While not hiding their nostalgia for what now stands for them as the good old Ratzinger days, conservative cardinals and others within the Roman curia criticize the style and the daring reforms of his successor, more or less openly.
The thrust of the latest effort is a sweeping reduction of business and personal income taxes, achieved by slicing through the thickets of the current impenetrable system which, everyone agrees, stifles economic vitality.Few Germans seem convinced, in fact, that even the most daring tax reform can resolve the problem of high unemployment, as the Kohl government suggests it can.
"Now is the time to be creative, innovating and daring in reforming the way we provide our people the skills they need to make it to the middle class".
He could have said more that was daring about welfare reform and about workfare.
"Greek society is ready to accept a daring and difficult reform, to the extent that it is fair and that it ultimately lets us see the light at the end of the tunnel," he said.
Now, with his own stock risking, he can show his mettle by demanding much tougher financial reform and daring the Republicans to block it.
Cameron would be under pressure to swing to the right on issues such as immigration and crime and adopt more daring policies on public service reform as part of the austerity drive.
While I agree that strict reforms on the banking industry are necessary, I can't help but think that the timing of these charges was meant to assist the administration's efforts in passing its financial reform bill by daring the Republicans to defend the likes of Goldman Sachs.
The White House has already begun to roll out new proposals meant to show daring activism -- space exploration, immigration reform -- and the State of the Union address was studded with inexpensive, Dick Morris-style goodies.
