The phrase "the buck stops here" apparently has its genesis, per Wikipedia, in passing the deal in poker. If you didn't want the responsibility of dealing, you passed the buck knife to the next guy at the table to indicate he would be dealer. It came to mean that you were ducking responsibility if you "passed the buck."

As used by Truman, it meant that the President has to make difficult decisions at times and is responsible for the consequences of his decisions. Dropping the A bomb would be an example for Truman. Since the A bomb worked and we won the war, Truman was not called on to pay for that decision. Had it backfired in some major way, he might have resigned in keeping with this saying. It's a lot like hari-kari without the blood.

Today, that meaning is completely lost. It's now thrown around casually by Presidents in an effort to look tough (because Truman was thought to be a tough guy) and now it means, "I am taking charge. (And, by the way, sometimes I swear a little, like all tough guys…)"

I've never seen a President take a pay cut, flog himself or resign after uttering those words. So, the point is completely lost because there are no consequences for failure as the phrase implies there must be.

Rather than taking responsibility for things, Obama has spent his first 18 months PASSING THE BUCK, mostly to GW Bush. It's gotten to the point that it's laughable at times.

The point of this article to me was that WE (the voters) are where the buck REALLY stops because we keep voting these morons and moral reprobates into office and we're suffering the consequences of our bad decisions.

If the masses don't wake up and stop voting for people who promise a free ride or have 'rock star' appeal, we'll continue to get what we deserve and America may ultimately fail. For those of us who see this so clearly, it's very frustrating…