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+--- Thread: "CNN Opinion: Congress takes the year off" (/showthread.php?tid=164619)
"CNN Opinion: Congress takes the year off" - $tevie - 02-28-2014
By Gloria Borger, CNN Chief Political Analyst (In other words, this is not a news story, it is an opinion piece. Which is why it is in the Opinion section. Just an FYI since some folks seem to get confused about how these things work.)
So the election will be this: Us or them? Obamacare or no Obamacare? Do you like me better? Do you like government? Do you like poor people or rich people?
That's our debate -- the sum total of our big ideas right now. Not wanting to start any fights within your own party. Unity above all heading into the midterm elections.
So maybe Congress should just close up shop and leave town because nothing is going to happen for the next nine months. Just turn off the lights. Both parties are making the same political calculation for the same reason: They can't afford to have any internal debate lest they seem less than united against the enemy. Turns out that the permanent campaign is still alive and well.
Here's the glitch in this narrative: Voters, it turns out, actually want some solutions to problems. They want to see the deficit go down; they want to find a way to fix immigration. A majority (63%) is worried the country is on the wrong track. And, according to a new CBS/New York Times poll, eight in 10 Americans are fed up with Washington.
Somehow, voters haven't gotten the message that Congress -- in its steadfast intent to accomplish nothing -- is just trying to appeal to them.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/27/opinion/borger-congress-useless-2014/index.html?iref=allsearch
Re: "CNN Opinion: Congress takes the year off" - hal - 02-28-2014
She nails it - click the link to keep reading - it gets better.
So what's the political solution? No substance, no ideas, no serious debate that might actually engage voters. Each side suits up, armed with its slogans and its bromides.
And we inevitably re-elect the Congress we hate.
Re: "CNN Opinion: Congress takes the year off" - RgrF - 03-01-2014
Most of Congress is so permanently gerrymandered into position that only a relative handful actually have to campaign or listen to anyone other than their most generous contributors.