Fall forecast: Finger pointing and gridlock in Washington, Obama still an incompetent democrat.
Is Your City A Slum?
An ardent Obama supporter said yesterday, "why doesn't he just
fight" and that about says it all. The latest kerfuffle over the
timing of what is supposed to be a major speech on jobs broke
down into a sandbox spat.
The White House seemed happy to be rebuffed by the House
Republicans who after hitting the lowest approval rating ever
recorded, should have done anything in their power to get back
in the good graces of the public.
It's clear that the next 15 months will be utterly painful,
disgusting and at times distasteful. The election season is
nearly in full swing with congressional Republicans and
presidential contenders on the warpath and Democrats and the
White House on the defensive.
The July-into-August debt debacle left nearly every American
with a bad taste in their mouth and angrier than ever that
Washington just doesn't get it.
And sadly, for most Americans who are genuinely worried about
this country, not much has changed.
As the nation turns the corner to Labor Day, Washington will
turn its attention to meaningless finger pointing and futile
attempts to do anything to jumpstart the economy.
The White House will aim to put together a package of common
sense bipartisan jobs proposals, but everyone believes that
plan, whatever it is, is apparently dead on arrival. If the
House Republicans rebuff a request from the leader of the free
world to borrow their office for a major speech on the biggest
issue facing the country, why on earth would they support
anything he proposes?
Right now, a rough economy politically doesn't hurt Republicans
trying to blame a rough economy on the Democrats and the
president. And political obstruction and deadlock only fuel the
fire of diminished consumer confidence and confidence in the
markets. (Exhibit A: S&P's downgrade of US credit because the
political parties don't get along.)
After the speeches next week on job plans from President Obama
and top Republican contenders, the so called "Super Committee"
will do their part to further erode the standing of Washington.
The committee, comprised of 12 members of the House and Senate,
is also expected to fail to come up with significant debt
reduction and any sort of tax reform, even though everyone is
for some sort of tax reform. A failure of the committee will set
in motion the so-call triggers of spending cuts that will hurt
many Americans and provide more evidence that this nation's
elected leaders can't get anything done.
The good news is the political season will soon fully take over
and all eyes will be on the people who want to come to
Washington or stay in Washington -- rather than those already in
it who were elected to do act and can't seem to.
So the fate the economy and the nation rests on a spat over
timing. Democrats want a fight. They don't want to be bullied by
the proverbial Lucy, in this case John Boehner who keeps talking
about working with the president and Democrats only to pull the
ball away at the last minute. But his supporters say Mr. Obama,
Charlie Brown in the analogy for those playing at home, needs to
learn his lesson.
The president could have said no to the speaker's dismissal of
his request for a big speech in front of Congress and just
called a press conference instead. He could have said his plan
and the economy is too important to wait another day.
But, with half of Congress firmly against him, he has little
choice but to use that opposition to paint a picture of
Republicans as obstructionists - as if the fate of his re-
election could hang in the balance of whether or not he can show
some fight.