I have some quibbles with how the 110th Congress has conducted itself, but I wouldn’t say that I disapprove…not in a binary approve/disapprove poll, anyway. The public feels differently.
Fueled by disappointment at the pace of change since Democrats assumed the majority on Capitol Hill, public approval of Congress has fallen to its lowest level in more than a decade, according to a new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll.
Just 27% of Americans now approve of the way Congress is doing its job, the poll found, down from 36% in January, when Democrats assumed control of the House and the Senate.
There’s no evidence that the public is more displeased with the Democrats than the Republicans, so this poll just reflects a general ‘pox on both your houses’ attitude. Now, political consultants will explain that this public attitude is explained by Congress’s inability to do anything, to work across party lines and solve the big problems…I don’t think so.
I attribute it to three things.
First, Iraq. The public wants some light at the end of the tunnel on Iraq. Congress has given them no light. None. This is the single biggest failure of Congress so far. If the public were interested in bipartisanship then they would be disproportionately blaming the Republicans for the lack of illumination. The public doesn’t pay close enough attention to get bogged down on which party is more to blame. They just know that Congress (both parties) gave Bush more money to fight the war with no strings attached and no hope for the future. That drives their disapproval. If the Dems had been seen kicking and screaming and insisting on light at the end of the tunnel, then the public would have seen the problem as one of Congress vs. the President, and they would have seen Congress as the hero and the President as the villain.
Second, the immigration bill. No one liked it. Maybe that is the nature of tackling such a controversial issue. The only available compromises are unacceptable to everyone that actually cares about the issue. But, regardless, the public hated the bill and wanted to strangle anyone that supported it. For the very few people that actually liked the bill…well…it didn’t pass…so…what’s to like?
Third, George W. Bush is still our President. Believe it or not, the public realizes that the biggest of the big problems that our nation faces is a matter of leadership. Our leader is an incompetent, lying, crook. It would be extremely non-bipartisan to actuallly do anything about Bush being a lying, incompetent, crook, but the public would appreciate the effort, nonetheless.
In summation, the public is not mad that Congress isn’t tackling our big problems by working together and passing bills. They’re mad that Congress worked together to pass a stringless war appropriation, that Congress tried to work together to pass a crappy immigration bill, and that the Democrats haven’t stood up to the President and forced more of a showdown on a wide front of issues…including removing him from office.
Sounds to me like the public wants a MORE partisan approach and less namby-pamby working across party lines. Or…if they want bipartisanship, they want it from Republicans who work with Dems to end the war and end this presidency.
