Right President, Wrong Congress!

In so many ways it seems we have the right President but the wrong Congress! What a shame!

Skip political wars. Suppress ideology and its circuitous logic. Focus on the issues. The things that are clearly in front of our faces. The array of solutions to those issues. Try to keep ideology out of it. Reduce the issues to their specific details. And worth.

I know it will be difficult to do this, but we must. The alternative is endless debate and manipulation of the decision process which solves nothing and allows the problems to get worse and more difficult to solve. If ever!

There is work to be done. And unless I’m missing something basic, I think the American public wants the work to be done.

There is much political noise going on right now. But I think we need to take stock. Gaze over these items:

• Republicans are staging a ‘great debate’ among their presidential candidates; so far the party isn’t even excited about their own prospects, let alone the public!
• Mitt Romney appears to have staying power in both the public’s mind and in polls; no one else seems to have really caught on
• Despite claims, the public is not disillusioned with President Obama
• Public disillusionment rests with the entire political scene. The system appears to be nonfunctional, or dysfunctional at best
• Republicans do know how to stick to a scripted message. It’s all about being against Obama; its all about deficit spending; its all about ineffective leadership; or a dozen other supposed agenda items
• But the President remains constant in his positions: the problems belong to the American people; the elected machinery in congress and state legislatures have the power and authority to manage the problems; presidential leadership presents the problems and potential solutions before the public and the authorities for action. It is the latter who have been found lacking
• Cooperation and collaboration will help work through our shared problems; but the political system has not worked together for some time; they remain stymied by their own hunger for power and greed
• The deficit reduction process went awry because Congress couldn’t agree on the basics
• The deficit reduction committee can’t agree even now, even with huge penalties to their ideologies if they fail; they still can’t do the work
• The problems have not gone away. They still beg for attention and reasoned solution

The American Public may be easily diverted from time to time. They have much on their mind. But they are not stupid. They know who is holding the nation captive. And it is not President Obama.

Congress, do your job. That goes equally for Democrats and Republicans. The public is watching. So is the world community.

Shame!

November 22, 2011