His handling of the Yom Kippur war has left America with what may prove to be an unsustainable commitment in the Middle East.
Politicians naturally tend to make unsustainable spending commitments that burden unorganised future voters, and bond vigilantes provide a necessary counterbalancing force.
Where they are different is that Republicans are trying to solve the problem of "our slowing growth and our unsustainable spending commitments," and Democrats are perpetuating the problem.
Between our slowing growth and our unsustainable spending commitments, "the days when lawmakers could give to some Americans without shortchanging others are over; the politics of deciding who loses what, and when and how, is upon us".
Instead, they would be used to buy a little more time for our failing public institutions -- postponing a reckoning with unsustainable pension commitments, delaying necessary reforms in our entitlement system and propping up an educational sector whose results don't match the costs.
"You can take some of those funds and parcel them out for activities so that you do not create a continuing, unsustainable forward commitment on your budget in the future".
Are the consequences apt to be a quick victory, a Middle East conflagration, widespread civilian casualties or an unsustainable long-term commitment?
Rightly so, in my view, open-ended commitments are unsustainable as retirement extends into the 80s for many people.
Our entitlement commitments are unsustainable.
Critics of the Obama administration's recent health care reform rightly focus on the $1 trillion cost of the legislation and fears that it will add to already unsustainable federal health care commitments for Medicare and Medicaid.
