Folks: The much heralded departure of Evan Bayh from the Senate at the end of his second term this year has promptede a deluge of commentary, much of it from Mr. Bayh himself, on just how broken our government is. Since this is a theme that Friedman focuses on at the outset of his book and is daily fare in the news coverage of our politics, I'm thinking that this poses a real opportunity to use part of Monday's class set aside for learning how to do Q by using Obamadogs as a place for all of us to chime in with statements of opinion on the nature of our governing crisis. If this turns up enough response, I could take the statements and compile them into a Q sample we could do and analyze as class Monday following the Friedman discussion. So here's my start:
Our politics are positively braindead: Our Congress fiddles while our country's future burns before our very eyes.
Obama should give up on the bipartisanship thing: Republicans have no interest in cooperating with Democrats. Sadly, they'll probably reap a short-term benefit from this.
Democrats are a poor excuse for a majority party. They had the largest majority in the House and Senate in recent history, and they blew it.
Obama was out of his mind, promising a change in our politics. American politics does not change unless a huge catastrophe prompts it.
Somebody needs to put a muzzle on the former Vice President. Dick Cheney seems hell bent on politicizing the War on Terror. Any Democrat who'd dare say in public that the president is aiding the terrorists would be targeted by everyone as unpatriotic and nuts.
This is a smart country, yet we have seemingly gotten ourself into a world of hurt by a long list of absolutely dumb decisions.
Whatever happened to politicians who put the country ahead of the personal re-election? The political leaders we're left with are an insult to the American people.
The Democrats seem unexplicably preoccupied with blaming George Bush for everything.
Why do members of the Democratic party have to be so condescending to those who don't share their policy preferences?
How can the "Party of No" get a free pass by the political press without having to defend their irresponsible refusal to lift a finger to clean up the mess that they are primarily responsible for?
Forming a Bipartisan Commission to investigate the debt crisis is a cowardly confession that those elected to make hard decisions can't do their job. It's another smokescreen for a failed system with failed representatives who will not own up to their failure.
Obama is not up to the job of fixing the governing crisis. Its doubtful that any president facing the challenges he is would be.
We are quickly becoming a second-rate power, and yet we have the arrogance to think we can still afford to serve as the world's policeman. We don't have the resources to be squandering American troops and borrowed money in a wild goose chase in Afghanistan.
It's obvious that there's a double standard at work. If middle-class wage earners had been responsible for bring the country to its knees econonically, it wouldn't have been bailed out and allowed to use taxpayer's money to pay millions in bonuses for those who's incompetence led to th problems initially.
The future is going to test our mettle as surely as did the Depression and world War II. But our national commitment to reclaiming our status seems a lot less genuine and energetic this time.
The country is experiencing nothing less than a spiritual crisis.
This will serve as a start. Please feel free to join in. Thanks,DT
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Osama must be smiling, if he's alive. We've been on a big downhill trajectory ever since 9/11.
ReplyDeleteNo civilized country would allow a private insurance industry to hold the health of its citizens hostage to profiteering!
Until the Democratic party starts acting on behalf of the average American, our country will remain under the thumb of two parties who are "hired guns" for the super-rich!
It's totally unfair that the greatest nation on earth would allow its young adults to start their post-collegiate lives so far in debt.
Americans have been tested before and they've always risen to the occasion. There's no reason to suggest they won't come through once again.
"Where there is no vision, the people will perish."
We need a Third Party in the worst possible way. The two we have aren't up to the task before us.
If truth be told, we've allowed ourselves to become a nation of lazy couch potatoes. We have nobody to blame but ourselves.
Yada,yada, yada....
Parties have become disconnected with the public, as more citizens are not Democrats or Republicans, but somewhere in between.
ReplyDeleteSocial issues such as abortion and gay marriage are blown out of proportion in their importance to voters by politicians and extremists on both sides.
The election of Barack Obama symbolized how desparate Americans are for a serious change in US politics.
US government and politics are still respected institutions to the international community.
The US is seen as representing freedom and peace in the international community.
Americans are much more interested in entertainment and athletics than politics.
Barack Obama has failed to deliver on his campaign promises thus far.
Barack Obama only needs more time to execute the change he promised.
Unfortunately, Barack Obama is serious handicappd by the political environment he inherited from the Bush Administration.
The Bush Administration may have caused some problems for Barack Obama, but it is time for the Obama Administration to stop making excuses and blaming the Bush Administration.
Thanks to Joe for adding some really good ones to the burgeoning concourse. Here are a couple more instigated by reading his:
ReplyDeleteThank goodness that Allan Simpson is willing to co-chair the Bipartisan Commission on dealing with the Deficit. He's a class act, able to put country ahead of party, and he has an admirable ability to laugh at himself.
What's up with the Republicans who want to run primary challengers to any GOP office-holder who dares to work with Democrats? It makes no sense to me.
Obama's effort to pursue a bipartisan legislative strategy has been a huge failure; still, he refuses to abandon it, and it's left those who worked hard for his election confused and disappointed.
Obama made a major miscalculation in appointing Geithner and Summers to head his economic team given their ties to Wall Street and the banks who got big bailouts for bringing us to the brink of a second Depression.
Those who would seek to discredit and delegitimize Obama as an out-of-touch cultural elitist have had their work made easier by his failure to define himself as an unapologetic Democrat.
The effort by some Senate Democrats to revive the public option in response to pressure from activists is just one more indication of failed leadership from the White House.
In the last 10 years, it's become clear that neither major party has the will or ability to really change Washington.
ReplyDeleteIncreasingly nasty partisanship in the media has created a political climate where the two parties compromising is nearly impossible.
Increasingly nasty partisanship in the media, and even in Washington, are only a response to what the public demands - simplistic, emotional conflicts that don't solve anything.
The recent attack in Austin, Texas is an example of how it is ineffective to focus on young Arab Muslim men in our efforts to fight terrorism.
The recent attack in Austin, Texas is an exmaple of how dangerous the anti-government right-wing is getting during the Obama Presidency.
The U.S. performance so far at the Olympics has been a pleasant reminder that our country still does a lot of things right.
Our country's obsession with Tiger Woods scandal and other media stories are the real reason we can't get our government to work - people just don't pay attention to the right things.
Barack Obama may not be doing a great job, but he's still a lot better than John McCain would have been.
Barack Obama is losing popularity because his agenda is far too liberal for the U.S., which remains a center-right country.
Barack Obama is losing popularity because he is not being liberal enough, he needs to stand up to Republicans and corporate interests instead of trying to win them over.
Well, I tried, on a Friday no less. Hopefully there's something decent in there.
Too many political victories come in the way of extreme partisanship. What happened to the days of honest deal-making?
ReplyDeleteModerates have no place to make their mark anymore. There's no center.
Too much emphasis is placed on instant gratification, with no thought as to long-erm ramifications
The best thing Obama could do for the country is resign. He has no credibility with the voter who has now seen that his ability is so modest as to interfere with the office of the President and with any efforts by the people to save themselves.
ReplyDeleteObama has been exposed as a fake, a political hoax on the American people and the voters are angry.
Obama can't go about restoring America's faith in its own institutions because half the government not only believes government is fundamentally broken but works to keep it that way.
I think Obama is a moderate president, but the big problems he faces tend to require big solutions.
We absolutely need some constitutional changes to fix the broken Senate.
The United States only accomplishes significant things when our feet are on fire. Our collective feet are only warming, and a fire will build before we take collective action.
It is time to make the American people a part of the process. The idea that we are either to be ruled or ignored by varying degrees is where the problem starts and ends.
I have never seen such a large segment of the public adopt the attitude of wanting everything but not wanting to pay for anything. Our first world status is not going to last much longer.
Hopefully something in this post is deemed useful!
Despite what the others say, the United States is still the greatest country in the world.
ReplyDeleteThe Congress is nothing but a bunch of useless and overpaid bureacrats: the fillibuster is a good example.
If only the US tried to work more with other countries, people would not hate us this much.
Obama is a wuss: He is not going to get tough on Iran any time soon.