Now let’s look at the politics. The president decided to tackle a major national dilemma he could easily have evaded. Handing off the Social Security mess to the next administration would have been safe short-term politics, although every year without a solution makes the problem vastly more expensive for the country as a whole. Instead, the president decided to run the serious political risks inherent in any solution to the Social Security problem, in faith that the public would ultimately recognize and reward his courage. I suspect this is one of the ways in which the president’s religious beliefs really do affect the way he governs. The president is a canny politician, not a blind risk-taker. But I do think the president’s faith encourages him to shoulder burdens others might shirk, believing that doing right will ultimately be rewarded, whether sooner or later.