Congress has its most disappointing year ever
The in Sunday鈥檚 Washington Post:聽 鈥淐ongress is unpopular.鈥澛� And deservedly so, because as Chris explains (in print but also in a nice video on that web page):
Saying that Congress is unpopular is kind of like saying that water is wet or that big-time college football is corrupt. It鈥檚 so obvious as to be assumed. And yet, in 2011 Congress managed to underperform even the low regard in which the American people hold it.
It wasn鈥檛 just that lawmakers didn鈥檛 do much in 2011. It was that they didn鈥檛 do much in a year in which the economy continued to struggle, the nation鈥檚 collective anxiety soared and, for the first time in modern memory, our fiscal foundations seemed genuinely shaky.
The mismatch between the bigness of the country鈥檚 problems and the smallness of Congress drove the institution鈥檚 approval ratings down to used-car-dealer (or even journalist) levels.
Chris goes on to boil down the major failures of Congress this year to three areas:聽 (1) the budget 鈥渄eal鈥� in the spring; (2) the debt-ceiling 鈥渄ebate鈥� in the summer; and (3) the (not so) 鈥渟upercommittee鈥� in the fall.聽 From my perspective, in all three cases: (1) the Obama Administration led by talking about the need for a 鈥渂alanced鈥� approach to deficit reduction that would involve both revenue increases and spending cuts (their 鈥渙pening bid鈥� effectively representing the compromise position they hoped to ultimately reach); (2) Republican leaders took a hard line position (pretty much 鈥渂ullying鈥�) on their Grover-mandated 鈥渘o new taxes鈥� stance; and (3) the Democrats in Congress and the Administration then cried 鈥渘o fair, you mean bullies!鈥濃�揵ut ultimately caved in and agreed to spending cuts only.
And now it鈥檚 gotten so bad that the two sides can鈥檛 even agree on passing a deficit-financed tax cut, the only kind of policy that we鈥檝e seen them have no trouble agreeing on over the past, um, decade or so.聽 House Speaker John Boehner explains that the Senate-passed two-month (only) extension of the payroll tax cut does not provide Americans with the kind of 鈥渃ertainty鈥� they need.聽 He鈥檚 right that the temporary extension is just another installment of kicking the can down the road, but Americans are very used to that kicking of the can.聽 I think Americans are more freaked out about the potential that Congress won鈥檛 even manage to kick the can鈥搕hat they鈥檒l miss it all together while they bicker for bickering sake鈥揳nd we鈥檒l all end up flat on our assets (and the body part that sounds like that).
(Hence, the Charlie Brown cartoon; just substitute 鈥渇ootball鈥� for 鈥渃an.鈥�)
