From an editorial in the Seattle Times on Friday:

Somebody had to say it, and it might as well be Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz. A round of boisterous applause, please, for Schultz's deliciously, in-your-face call to other CEOs to withhold campaign contributions to President Obama and incumbent members of Congress.

The coffee guru has had enough of political dickering - who hasn't? - and is urging a boycott on campaign donations to leaders in D.C. until "a fair, bipartisan deal is reached that sets our nation on stronger, long-term fiscal footing." Schultz made clear he was referring to entitlements and revenues.

How smart to talk to these people in a language they speak: money for campaigns. Maybe Schultz's idea will awaken leaders to the way the country views them.

The recent showdown and ineffectual handling of the debt-ceiling crisis in D.C. was hugely disappointing. Obama was weak; the tea party displayed an inability to govern. The whole affair was beyond discouraging.

And so campaign contributors should join Schultz in withholding money until our leaders earn their keep.

Part two of his announcement is to put his money where his mouth is: Schultz is urging U.S. companies to look past worries about the economy, stop sitting on cash and start hiring. Schultz intends to hire 70,000 people in the U.S. during the next year, though some of those jobs already exist and need to be filled.

This is what the country needs right now, a businessman who calls nonsense on politicians and corporate leaders who seem unable to make a move. You have to admire a guy who says he will go first.

"We are going to accelerate growth, employment and investment in jobs," he said, adding that confidence is contagious. "We are not waiting for government to create an incentive program or a stimulus."

His boycott of campaign contributions will be successful only if other likely contributors join him. But someone had to embarrass the folks in D.C. Someone had to say, let's get the economy going by taking matters into our own hands. Way to go.