Alexander Burns and Maggie Haberman have a long piece in Politico about why this presidential campaign seems so lame. I have a simple answer for that. Our politics have been broken by a combination of Republican strategy and tactics, divided government, and the Senate rules. Simply put, the Obama administration can do all sorts of things right, but they can’t implement any policies legislatively on their own terms. That’s why you see them do things like decline to defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court instead of simply repealing it, or deciding not to deport certain people rather then signing the DREAM Act. Obama can’t offer big sweeping changes because no matter how this election turns out, he won’t have enough political support to overcome Republican filibusters in the Senate.
As for Romney, he has endorsed completely radical and deeply unpopular policies that he is unwilling to discuss in any detail because it would hurt him politically. So, he’s reduced to sniping and voicing platitudes. Obama is too honest to promise large changes. Romney is too dishonest to admit that he’s proposed them.
Conservatives really don’t like their candidate, so their only enthusiasm is for voting out the Democratic president. Progressives have mixed feelings about the president, but share his frustration about the way the Republicans are able to block reforms.
If the press wants this election to be a less desultory affair, they should force Romney to debate the Ryan budget with the president. Romney will lose that debate very badly, but that is his own fault. If the press’s job is to inform the electorate, they should make this election a clear choice between two alternate visions for the country. Don’t let either candidate go day after day without defending the implications of their own proposals.
And let’s discuss why our political system is paralyzed and who is at fault for that. People need to be clear about that, too. If people prefer the president’s balanced approach to the apocalyptic Ryan budget, they should know that the president needs control of Congress to do what he wants to do. Reelecting him will prevent the worst from happening, but that alone will not be enough to break us out of this gridlock.
