And we have a winner!
Congratulation to Ezra Klein, Bloomberg View columnist, host of the Washington Post’s “Wonkblog” and winner of 2013’s first Dionne Award—presented at the whim of this blog to a “habitually even-tempered and fair-minded commentator for excellence in expressing moral outrage”.
The first thing to understand about young Mr. Klein is he chose two of the least emotionally engaging words in the English language, “wonk” and “blog”, to create the title of his primary worksite. This is a journalist who loves digging deep into the weeds of public policy debates, who regularly seeks out, interviews at length (and then publishes the unedited transcripts) with members of Congress, academics, government bureaucrats, think tank researchers, in short, anyone who’s got an interesting perspective on a public policy issue that falls under Klein’s broad-ranging interests.
Klein wins the Dionne Award for his column, “Good Riddance to Rottenest Congress in History”. Even allowing for some exaggeration by the headline writer (the 36th Congress left the country on the brink of Civil War when it adjourned in March of 1861), Klein makes a strong case for the unmatched venal ineptitude of the recently adjourned 112th Congress—and in particular, its House Republican caucus. How bad was the 112th? Let Mr. Klein count the ways:
“What’s the record of the 112th Congress? Well, it almost shut down the government and almost breached the debt ceiling. It almost went over the fiscal cliff (which it had designed in the first place). It cut a trillion dollars of discretionary spending in the Budget Control Act and scheduled another trillion in spending cuts through an automatic sequester, which everyone agrees is terrible policy. It achieved nothing of note on housing, energy, stimulus, immigration, guns, tax reform, infrastructure, climate change or, really, anything. It’s hard to identify a single significant problem that existed prior to the 112th Congress that was in any way improved by its two years of rule.“
“The 112th…wasn’t just unproductive in comparison with the 111th. It was unproductive compared with any Congress since 1948, when scholars began keeping tabs on congressional productivity.”
“Prior to the 112th, the least productive Congress was the 104th, from January 1995 to January 1997…. The 104th, however, passed 333 public laws — almost 50 percent more than the 112th. The 112th stands alone in its achievement of epic failure.“
“Of course…if the 112th Congress’s laws were particularly worthwhile, or if its low productivity reflected a period of political calm and economic growth, the slow rate of legislating might even be a good thing. In this case, however, the raw data mislead in the other direction. The 112th Congress wasn’t merely unproductive: It was devastatingly counterproductive.“
“…the 112th ended as it began: by creating a mess it couldn’t clean up. The resolution, such as it is, of the fiscal cliff simply sets up another fight in the weeks ahead over the debt ceiling and sequestration. Continued fear and uncertainty over the impending battle is the legacy of the 112th to the nation’s economy. Thanks, guys.”
“…the 112th Congress was the least popular since pollsters began keeping score. (Its) approval rating fell to 10 percent in February 2011 and again in August that year…. When another polling firm, Rasmussen, asked Americans in March 2011 how they’d feel about the U.S. turning into a communist country, 11 percent said they’d approve. So congratulations, 112th: You were, at multiple points, less popular than communism.” (emphasis added)
It’s rare that statistics and data are married to such polite, yet withering, scorn. For this accomplishment, Ezra Klein not only is this year’s first Dionne Award winner; he also sets a high bar for his colleagues to match in the new year.
Crossposted at: http://masscommons.wordpress.com/
