The failure of the congressional supercommittee to trim $1.2 trillion from the federal deficit was not a surprise to Americans who have watched a dysfunctional Washington bickering over ideology and posturing for the next election.

The New York Times article on the supercommittee said, “A failure is absorbed with disgust and fear, but with little surprise.”

But instead of symbolizing an end, the supercommittee failure presents an opportunity for a new start. Rather than tinkering to find $1.2 trillion over 10 years, congressional leaders and President Barack Obama should present a united front, saying failure to address the deficit is not acceptable. By doing so, they would demonstrate leadership and could present a plan that is bold, comprehensive and bipartisan. In backing a plan that is serious and substantial, one that “goes big,” they would show disillusioned Americans and the world that the United States is serious.

The 12-member supercommittee had the opportunity to do this, but party ideology and election-year politics prevented a deal. The committee members, just like the larger Congress, seemed doomed to failure by politics and the tendency of incumbent politicians to kick tough problems down the road.

While Congress has failed to provide leadership on deficit reduction, Obama has been just as absent. Obama and his political advisers seemed to predict a supercommittee defeat and didn’t want to be associated with that. Or, they calculated that a supercommittee failure would help Obama’s plans to focus his 2012 campaign on a do-nothing Congress.

Obama’s hands-off approach might be good politics, but it’s not good for the country.

Americans know the country faces big problems, and most are ready for, hungry for, an equally big solution — and some leadership.

The scale of the deficit problem is understood, and most people realize that current spending trends are unsustainable — $15 trillion and growing.

Last week, columnist George Will reminded readers that the supercommittee’s target of $1.2 trillion in cuts over 10 years would barely move long-term spending trends. While some in Washington whined about the pain of the spending-cut goal, a supercommittee deal would have had a negligible effect. One reason is that the group’s effort kept Medicare and most other mandatory spending off the table. A serious approach puts everything on the table, including trimming entitlement spending, tax reform and raising some taxes. Every credible, bipartisan study that has looked at the deficit agrees.

For that reason, Obama and congressional leaders should step into the void left by the supercommittee failure. A good place to start is the Simpson-Bowles report on deficit reduction revealed about a year ago after 10 months of work and compromise. That plan, produced by a group appointed by Obama, offered a bold blueprint to cut the deficit by more than $4 trillion and put America on a sustainable path. It offered a broad mix of spending reductions and some tax increases, with a ratio of about four-to-one in favor of spending reductions.

There is something in the Simpson-Bowles plan for every constituency to hate. That alone gave it credibility. But it also gained broad, if sometimes uneasy, bipartisan support — a rarity in Washington these days.

Despite that, Obama failed to provide leadership, barely mentioning the proposal.

Warren Buffett called the initial failure to support the Simpson-Bowles report a tragedy and a travesty. Because Republican Simpson and Democrat Bowles are not current officeholders, they were free to offer ideas that incumbents are afraid to touch — a key advantage.

Republicans could start the process by removing what was reported to be a major stumbling block for the supercommittee — letting the Bush tax cuts on the wealthy expire. By doing that, Republicans put down the first course of a foundation of shared sacrifice that also would defuse a Democratic campaign line for 2012 tarring the GOP for keeping tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires.

After agreeing to let tax rates on the wealthy return to Clinton-era levels, Republicans could then ask Democrats, “Now what?” Raising tax rates on the wealthy is a very small step toward addressing America’s fiscal crisis. The entire country should share in the effort; Obama and leaders in Congress must make that clear.

Simpson-Bowles is a credible plan to start dealing with America’s twin crises of rapidly rising debt and slow economic growth. And already a few senators have called for Congress to bring up Simpson-Bowles for a vote. Obama and congressional leaders should step forward and get in front of this parade.

Americans are desperate for leadership and a sense of dealing with, not avoiding, problems. The supercommittee failure presents an opportunity.