Congressman Paul Ryan, the Republican budget chairman from Wisconsin, is winning praise for his courage in proposing a real plan to cut the national debt. President Obama has punted on this central question, so the nation is thirsty for leadership.

But take a closer look and Ryan’s plan isn’t courageous at all. It is a sop to conservatives that protects all the tax cuts for the rich, while savaging programs for the poor and middle class.

In other words, it’s not a real attempt to break the political gridlock. Ryan is positioning himself as the chief cheerleader at the Republican pep rally, not as a national leader pointing the way to a reasonable solution.

What we really need are grown-up politicians who are willing to face facts, even if it means offending their own party’s base. A Democrat who accepts the need for deep cuts in entitlement spending would fit that bill. So would a Republican who accepts the need to reverse most of the Bush tax cuts.

Ryan is not among them. He panders to the Republican base by sticking with all the tax cuts, even those for the very rich. And once that decision is made, there is no alternative but to cut deeply into the muscle and bone of government.

The result is that Americans of limited means get pounded under Ryan’s plan. At a time when wages for the average American are dropping and salaries for the rich are skyrocketing, Ryan would deepen the divide.

He would end Medicare as we know it and replace it with a menu of private plans. New enrollees would get help paying the premiums, but Washington’s contribution would be capped at a rate that is unlikely to keep up with rising health costs. The modest cost-containment provisions in Obama’s health reform would be rescinded.

Medicaid, the health program for the poor, would be hit even harder. Under Ryan’s plan, the federal government would provide block grants to states, which would be free to reduce benefits or drop people from coverage. The Medicaid expansion included in Obama’s health reform would be lost as well, throwing millions more to the mercy of hospital emergency rooms.

Ryan would impose deep cuts in food stamps, along with cuts in Pell grants, low-income housing, job training and a menu of other programs that have long been in the GOP’s crosshairs.

This pinched vision of America is extreme. Ryan pictures a federal government that would limit spending to 20 percent of GDP. For comparison, the figure was 22 percent under Ronald Reagan. And remember that Ryan’s smaller government, unlike Reagan’s, would have to cover the costs of Baby Boomer retirements. No wonder so many people of modest means would have to be thrown overboard.

To really solve this problem, we need courageous politicians to risk their careers by telling Americans the ugly truths. And we need sober citizens who are willing to pay the bills for the government they demand.

Two bipartisan commissions that studied this question last year pointed in the right direction. Both urged painful spending cuts balanced with painful tax increases. And both shaped the spending cuts in ways that spread the pain more fairly than Ryan would.

Obama kept his distance from both commissions, even the one he appointed. That was a terrible failure of leadership. His lack of credibility on this issue has helped fuel the extremism that is reflected in Ryan’s plan, and in the attempts to deeply cut this year’s budget.

Those looking for courageous solutions to our crippling national debt won’t find it in the White House or in Ryan’s office. What you’ll find, instead, are politicians protecting their careers.