Hubris Sans Dignity

I "get it" when a leader, mayor, governor, etc stands by h/her political or economic philosophy. I find it refreshing that anyone in a leadership role would reason that they were elected to make decisions based on their intellectual skills and that they would stay the course on what brought them their initial success in the first place.

Governor Mark Sanford, however, goes beyond the pale when he refuses to help the people of S. Carolina. How he could look into a camera and proudly proclaim that his state can and will withstand the massive unemployment, the huge turn down of private donations in the Palmetto State? Ok, Ok, his hubris at that point was acceptable; sort of a "keep a stiff upper lip" response. But he irritated the hell out of me when he declared that he would only take stimulus monies to "pay down the state debt".
The whole concept of the stimulus package is to create more shovel-ready jobs, not to shove the money into banks or pay off debts that stimulate nothing. Sanford knows this yet he refuses to help his hurting populace. He knows full well that United Way has exhausted its funds and that the food stores for the needy are bare but he refuses to help.
When supposed leadership hurts rather than helps, when it becomes more Machiavellian than compassionate one could deduce a change must result.