Mark Warner accuses both parties of “dancing dangerously” near the edge of fiscal disaster

In a recent interview at the nation’s capital, Sen. Mark R. Warner (VA) made clear his distaste for so-called “brinkmanship” partisan politics and essentially accused both parties of “dancing dangerously” near the edges of fiscal disaster.[1]

Warner stated that the $16 trillion federal deficit is “the single greatest threat to our national security,” stating further that “Trying to win a short-term political battle versus the risk of putting the whole national and world economy at risk? It’s not a really good trade…”[2]

Mark Warner was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2008, beginning his first term in 2009, right in the midst of a national and global economic freefall. Thus, Warner has the political cover to criticize other members of the U.S. Congress for their inability or unwillingness to control the country’s debt. As a member of the more collaborative U.S. Senate, Warner also has the ability to criticize the House of Representatives for their failures to reach a long-term debt reduction deal that has been elusive.

But when I hear Warner making comments like the one he made above, seemingly criticizing both parties somewhat equally for their roles in this latest fiscal standoff, he comes off as little more than a career politician looking for a political middle ground where he can stake his claim for the U.S. presidency in 2016. 

What America needs right now, however, are actual leaders who do more than talk the good talk.

Even in the senate, however, Warner hasn’t been able to hash out a bipartisan debt reduction bill as a member of the so-called ‘Gang of Six.’[3] So Sen. Warner, where are your own mea culpa’s?

For all of Sen. Warner’s business and political intelligence, he and many of his colleagues still don’t understand that leadership and practicing what you preach are the qualities Americans are seeking from their elected officials. And pointing the finger at everyone but yourself is hardly leadership.

Warner cannot keep trying to distance himself from his fellow members of congress as if he were not one himself. Ultimately, Warner has played a role in the situation we are in at present and should thus share the blame of a disaster and the accolades of a fiscal cliff aversion.

But to reach the latter, he’ll have to begin by bringing the congress together, not splitting it by wagging his finger at the supposedly guilty parties, excluding himself.

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[1] http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/state-regional/warner-we-re-really-playing-with-fire/article_c058d84d-cb88-5c80-bf41-0947f1b1af21.html

[2] http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/state-regional/warner-we-re-really-playing-with-fire/article_c058d84d-cb88-5c80-bf41-0947f1b1af21.html

[3] http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/61626.html