Another fine idea . . .

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