The Lucrative Business Of Governing

The Washington Post recently ran a story that does a great job of illustrating the total disconnect between Congress and the rest of the country.

According to the Post; over the past twenty five years the average net worth of a member of Congress has risen from $280,000 to $725,000.  During that same period the average net worth of the average middle class American declined from $20,600 to $20,500.

Generally speaking there is a bit of a lifestyle change that one goes through when one enters the hallowed halls of Congress.  The $174,000 paycheck, the lifetime benefits, the perks, and the fawning swarm of glad handers can color ones sense of self and one’s purpose.  Suddenly your opinion really matters and your vote carries real power.  You spend most of your time in Washington attending fundraisers and being schmoozed by lobbyists.  You make speeches for which you are handsomely compensated and go on junkets that take you to places you’ve only dreamed of…all within the “wink, wink” of the law.    

So it is not so surprising that once elected to office very few in Congress are anxious to give it up.  Consequently, they spend most of their time, and base most of their decisions on doing whatever is necessary to continue that fabulous, powerful and  lucrative ride.  On average a sitting Congressman will raise and spend $1.2 million just to get re-elected.  The President's campaign will raise $1 billion.    

The people we send to Congress live in an artificial bubble far removed from the lives of their constituents.  So why then would we expect these people to have any empathy for the guy who clocks in from 8 to 4:30?  Why would we expect them to understand what goes through the mind of the single mom or the dad with four kids who just lost his job?  Why would we expect the “haves” in power to spend one second worrying about the “have nots” when they are so busy hanging on to their own piece of the pie?

Yet, we do.  It’s foolish, but we do.  We expect them to care and to govern in a way that is fair; not just to those with money, power and influence…but to all.  But the fact is that expecting Congress to fix the ills of the country is like expecting the mob to clean up drug trafficking.   

The middle class is the engine that runs this country.  It is their disposable income that fuels the economy.  But the middle class country is dying before our very eyes; and as they go so goes the country.  Yet Congress is too busy covering their perks and their asses to do anything about it. 

We don’t begrudge the “haves” in Congress from taking advantage of their position and power.  As long as they achieve those things within the boundaries of the law…more power to them.  That’s the system.  But as long as that system allows and even encourages those in power to reap those benefits while turning a blind eye to the engine that runs the country…we are destined to fail.

We need to remove money and position from politics and governing.  Only then will elected officials do what is right instead of what is personally lucrative and politically expedient. 

The system needs to change.  Given all that we have witnessed over the past decade: the unwarranted wars, the economic collapse, the social injustice, the greed and the rapid decline of 99% of the country; if we don’t have the will to change the system now…then when?       

Newt and Rick Fail Leadership test

How can you run a country when you can’t run a campaign?  That is the first question that popped into our heads upon learning that Presidential hopefuls Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry had failed to gather the requisite number of signatures to appear on the Virginia ballot. 

The Commonwealth of Virginia requires that in order to have your name listed on the primary ballot you must find 10,000 legal Virginia residents willing to sign a petition that your name appear.  Virginia law further states that those signatures must include at least 400 residents from each of the commonwealth’s eleven voting districts.  Apparently Newt was able to gather 12,000 signatures but that total did not include at least 400 signatures from each of the eleven voting districts.  At stake are the votes of 49 delegates.   

Oops! 

Perry has been relatively quiet about his campaign’s muck up; Newt not so much.  A senior advisor to Gingrich called the Virginia law draconian and made some comparison to the December 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor that was too convoluted for us to comprehend. 

The Virginia law has been in place for decades.  It is a law that candidates for governor, state attorney general and  a whole host of other local candidates have easily managed to comply with over the years; but not Newt…and not Rick.  Their failure to comply is an embarrassment to their campaigns and a telling indication of their leadership ability.  This is particularly true for Newt who is a Virginia resident.  

Here’s the thing.  The campaign for the Presidency is a test within itself.  It involves organization, time management, fund raising, budgeting, messaging and the co-ordination of a number of rapidly moving parts.  If you can’t manage a campaign, how do you expect the voters to trust you with managing a country?   

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas!

GOP Hands President An Early Christmas Gift

The GOP caved in on the payroll tax cut extension ending what had to be one of the most embarrassing and politically costly weeks in the party’s history.  Speaker Boehner took the podium and announced that House Republicans would support the two month payroll tax extension passed by the Senate.  It is telling that unlike previous moments when a defiant Speaker addressed the media flanked by supportive members of his caucus; this time he faced the cameras alone.

The Republican Party is a train wreck.  The Party is run by a small group of freshman Tea Party congressman so focused on obstructionism that they can’t figure out how to move the country forward.  Speaker Boehner has lost control.  Time and time again Tea Party freshman have forced him to walk away from a compromise with the President that would help the country.  From the “Grand Bargain” to the debt ceiling to the payroll tax cuts they have embarrassed their Speaker and weakened their party. Their message is disjointed and voiced with little purpose except to defeat this President.  This week they were against the tax cuts, then they supported them, then they were against them again before they finally supported them.  In the end they went too far and the discord within the Party spilled out for the entire world to see. Prominent Republican voices like Mitch McConnell, Karl Rove, John McCain, Charles Krauthammer and the Wall Street Journal all publically savaged House Republicans for their reckless intransigence.  Boehner realized that the cause was lost and ultimately surrendered.

Lost in all the chatter is the fact that Republicans actually got a great deal of what they wanted in this debate.  They blocked the surcharge on millionaires, moved the Keystone pipeline forward and thus far have stalled 90% of the President’s jobs bill.  A good leader would have been able to spin this into some sort of victory.  That didn’t happen; and now many within the Party are questioning Boehner’s ability to lead.  Some are openly opining that he will be recalled before the end of his term.

Republicans will get another shot at the payroll tax in the spring when the two month extension expires.  But that will come right in the middle of the Republican primaries where a fractured Party is already lurching from one frontrunner to the next; unable to align their support behind one strong candidate.

The last few months have been an absolute catastrophe for the Republican Party.  The infighting within the walls of Congress and on the campaign trail has damaged their message, their credibility and their ability to get anything done for the American people.  They have managed to allow Democratic Party to don the mantle that had always been borne by Republicans; ceding to Democrats the party of tax cuts and strong defense.  At the same time the Republican food fight has provided the President with a strong year end surge.  Even with a struggling economy and 8.6% unemployment the President’s approval ratings have rebounded to an astounding 49%.  Meanwhile Congressional approval has plummeted to 11%.  They appear tone deaf and mean.  So inconsequential is their message that they have been reduced to sniping at the President for Christmas shopping...with his dog.

There will be many more debates between now and the 2012 elections.  At lot can happen between now and then.  If the President manages to win a second term there are many who will point to this weeks’ Republican collapse as a key factor in handing him that victory.      

     

This And That...

**Twenty four hours.  That’s all it took.  Barely 24 hours after the last US combat troops left Iraq, sectarian violence erupted in Baghdad.  Our “buddy,” Shiite Prime Minister al-Maliki, ordered the arrest of Sunni Vice president al-Hashimi on the grounds that al-Hashimi had organized his security detail into a death squad targeting government and military officials.  Al-Hashimi fled to the safety of the autonomous Kurdish region and refuses to return to Baghdad.  Supporters of al-Hashimi responded to the attempted arrest by setting off a series of bombings and attacks that left 63 dead and 185 injured. 

Critics say the attacks serve to support their contention that the President should not have pulled US forces from the region.  The fact is that unless we were planning to occupy Iraq in perpetuity this type of violence would have occurred no matter when we withdrew.

As former Security Advisor to President Carter, Zbigniew Brzezinski summarized:  “We are now facing the reality of what we have accomplished in Iraq.  We have destabilized the country.  We have destroyed Iraq as a state.  We have reignited sectarian conflicts.  We have contributed to the ethnic distinctions between the Kurds and the Iraqis.  We have contributed to the instability of the Middle East."  And last but not least we have trained and armed 750,000 security forces who answer to an elected dictator that is becoming increasingly friendly with Iran.

After 4,500 deaths; 33,000 wounded and $1 trillion in treasure we leave behind a country that is reverting to its old sectarian ways.  And it only took 24 hours.

We have an arrogant belief in this country that every nation across the globe seeks to remake itself into our image.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

**Ron Paul supporters have long complained that the media does not pay enough attention to their candidate.  Be careful what you wish for.  Paul’s rise to the lead in the Iowa polls has placed him squarely under the media microscope; and like Perry and Gingrich found out before him, it’s not fun taking your turn in the barrel.

The Wall Street Journal just published a scathing editorial by Dorothy Rabinowitz in which she documents Paul’s belief that the 911 attacks were caused by American aggression; that America was declaring war on 1.2 billion Muslims and that Iran is misunderstood and merely trying to defend itself.  CNN just released excerpts from newsletters written under Paul’s name in the early 90’s that contain racist and anti-Semitic language.  The usually affable Paul was last seen removing his microphone to abruptly end an interview that began to focus on the content of those newsletters.  Paul has denied writing the newsletters and denouncing their content.  He has also said that he did write some newsletters but is vague on which ones. 

Paul leads the polls in Iowa and he could make things interesting in New Hampshire.  But his chances of winning the nomination are slim to none at best.  And any hope he may have had just took a beating by way of the very media attention his supporters longed for.

**The Washington Post reports that Bank of America will pay $335 million to settle federal claims that its Countrywide Financial unit charged blacks and Hispanic borrowers higher mortgage fees in the lead up to the financial crisis, and steered them to riskier loans than their white counterparts.  Investigators found over 200,000 instances where Countrywide charged minorities higher fees and interest rates than their white counterparts between 2004 and 2008.

In spite of all of the evidence that regulations are needed to protect consumers from predatory lending; the Republican Party continues to block the appointment of a chairman for the Consumer Protection Agency thereby preventing the agency from executing any of the powers granted under the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill.  It should also be noted that in spite of mounting evidence produced by a host of whistle blowers; the federal government has, as of this date, failed to bring charges against anyone who participated in the 2008-2009 banking scandal that nearly collapsed the economy.  If you are caught carrying a kilo of weed across state lines you’ll get busted for intent to distribute.  But if you are the President of Citicorp or Bank America and sign off on bogus financial reports that crash the markets, bring down the economy and ruin the lives of millions Americans you get a multi-million dollar bonus for a job well done.           

       

    

Tea Party Helping Obama...Hurting Republicans

When Republicans took control of the House in January they believed that the American people had handed them a mandate.  Republicans believed that they had been empowered by the people to stop the big government machine run by the Obama administration.  Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell famously said at the time, that his number one goal was to make Obama a one term President; and with that statement a do nothing Congress reminiscent of the Truman era was born.

But as the year moved along, time and time again the misguided intransigence exhibited by this Congress has only served to bolster the President’s popularity.  In fact it can be argued that the actions of this Congress may be the number one reason why the President gains a second term.

Take the recent events surrounding the wildly popular payroll tax cuts.

Yesterday the House voted 229-193 to request negotiations with the Senate on renewing the payroll tax cuts for another year.  The Senate had already approved a bill extending the cuts for two months to allow Congress more time to negotiate a long term deal.  The Senate Democrats had given on a number of their ideological points to get a compromise put into law.  They gave on a tax increase for millionaires to fund the bill.  They gave on a procedural issue to move the Keystone Pipeline forward; and they gave on the length of the extension.  39 Republican Senators agreed that it was a good compromise, and joined Democrats in passing the measure 89-10.  Speaker Boehner called the compromise a “win”; citing the Pipeline provision as something Republicans really wanted.

But that wasn’t good enough for the small group of Tea Party freshman who control the House and tell the Speaker what to do.  They refused to even vote on the Senate bill knowing full well it would pass and give the President a win.  So rather than cast an unpopular “No” vote on giving tax cuts to Americans; the House voted to send the bill to committee to renegotiate with the Senate.  That will be tough to do since Senate Majority Leader Reid has sent his troops home for the holidays.  Reid responded to the House vote saying that there was no need for a conference as the Senate had already passed a bill with bi-partisan support.  Boehner was last seen ducking into a cloakroom denying he had ever supported the Senate bill.

The Republican Party is being held hostage by a small group of Tea Party freshman who will go to any length to block this President.  Time and time again they have quashed agreements in principle between the Speaker and the President much to the embarrassment of the party.  One need only look back to the deficit negotiations, where Boehner was forced to walk away from a highly publicized agreement with the President. Or the “debt ceiling” negotiations where Tea Party stubbornness resulted in a downgrade in the country’s credit rating.  Boehner’s inability to control his caucus has hurt the country, hurt his party and raised questions within his caucus about his leadership ability.

The Republicans cannot seem to get on the same page and their disjointed approach is having a negative effect on their candidate’s chances for the Presidency.  According to several polls released today, the President would win a head to head contest with Mitt Romney or Ron Paul 52%-45%.  He would defeat Newt Gingrich by 16%.  The President’s approval rating stands at 49%; which is remarkable given the state of the economy.  Meanwhile, the Republican held Congress, who in January held a poor 29% approval rating, has seen those numbers tank to an abysmal 11%.

Whether these numbers remain constant until the November elections, or whether something can give one of the Republican candidates enough of a surge to defeat the President, is anybody’s guess.  But one thing is certain.  The American people do not approve of the way this Congress conducts its business.  And if Republicans continue along this path they will pay a heavy price at the polls next  November.               

      

Working For The People

It’s looking more and more likely that 160 million Americans are going to see their annual take home pay reduced by an average of $1,000 come the first of the year.

Unable to control their Tea Party members, Republicans on the House Rules Committee voted to prevent a direct vote on a bi-partisan Senate bill to extend the payroll tax cuts for two months.  The bill had already passed in the Senate by an overwhelming 89-10 vote.

It appears that the rules committee may vote to refer the matter to a conference committee in the hope of reaching a compromise with the Senate.

Confused?  Who wouldn’t be?  Here is what really happened.

Boehner told Senate Minority Leader McConnell that he could get his caucus to approve a bi-partisan bill approved by the Senate.  He even praised its passage.  Then he tried to sell the bill to his caucus.  Once again, the Tea Party members refused to comply.  Faced with the knowledge that he had lost control of his caucus (again) Boehner is scrambling to avoid the stink that will land on him and his party if the Tea Part intransigence leads to a tax increase for 160 million Americans.  So to save face, instead of voting “No” on a two month extension of the tax cuts the House will probably issue a “sense of the house" resolution (what?) SUPPORTING a ONE YEAR extension of the tax cuts.  Their feeling is that a “positive” statement will play better in the press than a “negative” vote.

Are you kidding?  160 million Americans are looking at a tax hike and all the House members are worried about is “making a positive statement” to cover their ass.

Ladies and gentlemen…your United States Congress!  Sleep well tonight because Congress is looking out for your best interests.