A Won't Do Congress For A Can't Do Time
Politico Question: Will The Failure of the Super Committee Affect This 9 Percent Approval-Rated Congress?
You wish you could say it is a big hit for Congress, that the shock of the most powerful government in the world not being able to get something done would give pause to the nation.
But its par for the course for this group, and this congress has an entire year left to implement their agenda of nothingness. Remember the ads for the Maytag repair guy, where he was sitting around bored because the product never needed fixing? The new Maytag repairman is the Capitol Hill correspondent: "nothing to report here... hey, there's a tour group! Back to you, Steve." Every incumbent, no matter party affiliation, has to be worried about their chances to return to their seat just based on being part of this congressional session. Speech writers and staff hacks deserve huge win bonuses next November.
I am amazed that conservatives want to cut unemployment benefits for those who want to work and are actively looking and fighting for jobs, while members of the super committee, who make $170k a year and have large staffs that actually do the work, shrug their shoulders, blame anyone but themselves, then head home for the holidays on a taxpayer-funded plane ticket. This crew dodges responsibility the way a dead-beat parent dodges child support. The supercommittee failure, along with every failure of this congress, points to the fact that Republicans did not have an answer for what ails our society and our government: they just said you can't blame us because we weren't in charge. Now they are, and all they can do is kick the can down the road with such gusto that Pele would be impressed. John Boehner cried as we took the Paul Bunyan gavel to become speaker of the house. Heavy is the head that wears the crown, Mr. Speaker. I feel for Boehner: to look out over a majority that has no fear of your discipline would drive the Marlboro Man to weep. Sometimes congressional sessions shift the agenda so greatly that they are given labels. Truman ran against the "Do Nothing" congress. In 1994 we had the Contract with America. And as we near the end of the Mayan calendar, I give you the 112th Congress: a masterpiece of minimalism. I am a member of Generation X (and I speak for all of us in our 30s and early 40s by saying thank you to the boomers for this great system you have left to us), and we often turn to media to express ourselves. When I think of the upcoming elections in 2012, I implore my fellow voters to cast their ballot by asking the candidates, especially super committee members, the question made famous by the Bobs of Office Space: "What would you say....you do here?"
