Send Congress to Boot Camp

Army Lt. Gen. Russell Honoré, the plainspoken, cigar chomping general who gained fame as the "John Wayne dude" who managed the military response to Hurricane Katrina, marvelously summed up my feelings about the debt ceiling charade in an opinion piece written for CNN Tuesday.

Honoré wrote that he "can only see this debacle -- the weeks of haggling to get to an eleventh-hour deal -- as the definition of 'mission failure.' At this point, even the last-minute deal that is on its way to President Obama's desk will not repair the damage our elected leadership's amateur-hour, worthless grandstanding has caused."

He added, "Why? Because our national elected leaders don't share a common purpose. They have failed to live up to their oaths of office, to protect and defend the Constitution and the United States of America. Instead they strike partisan poses they hope will be remembered during their next campaigns.

"This isn't leadership, it's playacting. And we should all be disgusted."

The country's leadership, Honoré said, must remember its purpose is to keep the country free, a burden borne by "many disabled veterans, the ones who are praying the check comes in the mail after all, can't work as result of injuries sustained on duty."

Those veterans, he said, "were willing to die to keep America free, and they sacrifice to this day. How many of the grandstanding clowns in Washington took a bullet in the name of freedom? Are they willing to sacrifice as much as the average National Guardsman does?"

His solution: "It's time to load our elected officials on troop planes and send them to Camp Shelby, Mississippi. Put them in tents with no air conditioning, have Army drill sergeants teach them teamwork and physical sacrifice. When they recognize their responsibility to the people of America, they can return to D.C., their upscale restaurants, and military plane trips, as though they were royalty."

I'm not familiar with the drill instructors at Camp Shelby, but based on my experience at the Marine Corps Recruit San Diego not only would Congress-folks learn teamwork and develop camaraderie, they would also get -- gratis -- a badly needed attitude adjustment.