Talking Tough

This weekend on a political blabfest, Barack Obama derided President Bush for always talking tough but not backing up the talk with wise decisions. Obama assured viewers that he is tough, noting, "Somebody who has arrived where I am, out of Chicago politics, has to have a little bit of steel in them." So why isn't Chicago's mayor running for president?

Obama also said he is unafraid to make tough decisions in the national interest: "I have the capacity, I think, to make strong decisions even if they're unpopular, even if they're uncomfortable, even if sometimes I lose some friends."

Is that why he's unwilling even to consider privatizing even a portion of the financially shaky Social Security system? If Obama can't even stand up to the old lions in the Democratic Party, what does al Qaeda have to worry about?