If there’s any doubt left that politics is a tough, up-close-and-personal game, check out this Washington Post blog about one of the cuts proposed by President Obama in his budget.

Among the 126 programs President Obama proposes to slash in the 2011 budget is a $1 million scholarship program that honors the late son of Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.).

Stupak is the conservative House Democrat who held up a House vote on Obama’s health-care initiative last fall with his demands that the legislation provide stronger assurances that no federal money be spent on abortion.

Don’t misunderstand my point. The program sounds well meaning but is clearly a “want” not a “need” and is certainly outside the appropriate role for federal funding. Thus, I support the cut. What is clear, however, is that Rep. Stupak’s refusal to be pulled to the Left by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Obama comes at a very personal price.