Political Courage: Lessons from Latvia

The sub-text to the headline of Frank Rich's recent article in New York Magazine reflects the political reality for President Obama: "The president's failure to demand a reckoning from the moneyed interests who brought the economy down has cursed his first term, and could prevent a second." Confronting Wall Street over the crash of 2008 and bringing the responsible parties to justice has apparently not been on the President's agenda and many Americans wonder why.

Overseas, an interesting political situation has developed this spring in Latvia, the tiny Baltic country in Eastern Europe which has suffered through the same economic downturn. President Valdis Zatlers' (pictured above with President Obama) first four year term ends today and he was not elected for a second. Instead, he took quite a different route when it came to dealing with his country's oligarchs.

Despite putting his second term in jeopardy, he used the powers of the office of the presidency to dissolve parliament for its failure to waive the immunity of two of its members and a mayor of one of Latvia's largest cities, in an anti-corruption probe. The single-chamber Saeima responded along party lines in electing Zatlers' rival, Andris Berzins, in last month's presidential election. Tomorrow, Berzins will occupy Riga Castle and be Latvia's new President.

Zatlers' political future has been the source of a great deal of speculation, as he has remained silent on his plans until he is out of office. The future for Latvia includes a referendum vote on July 23rd to ratify Zatlers' dissolution and trigger parliamentary elections in September. Most Latvians I spoke with during our recent visit feel the referendum will pass by a large margin. They are less sure of any major change in September, but its evident that they feel at least the parliament will have heard their voice. Zatlers may take a greater role in the coming weeks.

With the current economic situation in America and consistent high unemployment, the controversy over the federal budget and deficit is coming to a head with an impending vote to raise the debt ceiling. Massive funding cuts to safety-net programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are threatened, with the continuation of tax cuts and loopholes benefitting the millionaires and billionaires and corporations who park their assets overseas rather than invest in America. These American oligarchs and their puppets in Washington must be confronted and the time is now.

I can't help but think that what is needed from the White House right now was demonstrated in Riga Castle by the President of a small Eastern European country who put his the integrity of his government above his own political needs and risked his second term with an audacious act of political courage. Hopefully, President Obama will take a cue from President Zatlers and act based on the needs of the majority of Americans.