What’s wrong with Washington D.C.
When reading this post at Hot Air about support for President Barack Obama eroding pretty fast I stumbled across this comment:
I think both polls are missing a major shift in the American people. This isn’t a rep/dem thing anymore. this is a movement that says [our] government is broken. From talking to many people that voted for Obama [they c]ite that they wanted someone new, a new direction a new nonpartisian gov that works for the people not the fat cats and not for the liberals and not for the conservatives etc. The drop in the rep numbers at the same time that Obama’s are dropping seem to bare this out. Also the rise of the tea parties, the Any Rand books, and the corresponding drop in party afflitation among the population all point this out. They are seeing Obama as just another politician looking out for his liberals, They saw Bush as just a politician looking out for his rich country club friends.
I really see no way for the gov to win here. Everything in Washington is political and the American people are tired of the political games. They are tired of the Dems saying they are for reduced spending for 2 years and then as soon as they get the reins of power they spend more then anyone ever. They are tired of seeing the reps spend trillions under Bush and as soon as they get out of power become financial conservatives again. The Politicians have lied to the American people one too many times IMO and now it is a throw the bums out moment. a pox on both their houses.
The Americian people want law and order, they want everyone to play by the same rules be they illegal immigrants or Wall streeet CEO’s. They see both the above groups get special treatment and the avg Americian gets the shaft. It can not last and it has in the past always led to revolution when the majority of people feel like the minority are getting special treatment.
This is not good.
The reader is, I believe, exactly right. Obama won, not because he promised more government intervention, but because he told Americans the government could work for them, not for special interest groups. He told them he could and would reach across the aisle to find solutions for Americans’ most pressing problems, regardless of whether the ’solution’ would be ‘conservative’ or ‘liberal’ in nature.
You see, the average voter doesn’t care one bit about whether an effective solution is liberal or conservative. The only thing that matters is that it works.
So Obama promised to be different, but voters are realizing he isn’t. He doesn’t represent anything new. He represents the left-wing of the Democratic Party, he is more ideological than he admitted during the campaign, and he and Democrats in Congress aren’t willing to work with Republicans either. At the same time, voters see that Republicans spent like drunken sailors when they were in power but now pretend to be all about fiscal responsible behavior.
It’s still all politics all the time. Nothing has changed.
And Americans are fed up with it.
Perhaps Americans would get their confidence in government back if journalists, bloggers and politicians would spend less time villifying each other and more time working for the common good.
The commenter is correct. If politics took more of a backseat to the rule of law, then we would be a lot better of than we are now. At the same time, Journalism needs to get back into the business of reporting who what where and when the rule of law is broken, and that it is just that, breaking the law (for example in the case of illegal aliens… they are not “undocumented workers” the are breaking the law) and in all cases. Not just reporting how and when it is suits their agenda, or ignoring stories that the citizens have a right to know. The American people are starting to grow tired of having to point out (on mostly blogs and talk radio) what is clearly wrong, and having it ignored by mainstream media. Or having MSM points of view shoved down their throats from a standpoint of “fairness”.
We are tired of hearing opinions on how things just won’t work the way the law says it should, so why bother. What happened to high standards? What happened to excellence? What happened to hard work is rewarded and laziness and cheating is ridiculed and to be ashamed of? All these things seem to have been cast aside for pie I the sky wishful thinking and fear-driven spending sprees. Really, these days (Not just since the financial meltdown, but decades before) there have been1001 excuses for exceptions to the rule of how our country should be run what “groups” are favored, in which are not. This needs to stop.
Whats disheartening is that people actually believed that Barak Obama was something more then just another politician.
Also, as Michael Merrit points out here:
http://www.poligazette.com/2009/03/01/how-to-spend-the-stimulus-money-without-waste/
“[The details of]..Waste stemming from government spending tends gets very little airtime or space in newspapers, and fraud gets even less. No matter who’s running the government.”
This is another outrage where the media and Washington have been in lockstep to avoid talking about specifics, and Americans are fed up.
Why no mention of a similar drop in the GOP Congressional approval?
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/64060.html
From 34% to 28%.
http://people-press.org/report/498/obama-approval-slips
People are mad as hell because they look at congress and they understand.
They know what transpired over the years. They know for instance that the democrats voted to go to war then changed their minds. They know this. No amount of spin on this blog or anywhere else in the blogsphere or on cable news will take away what they know.
They know that Barney Frank and the democrats are to blame for the melt down. Just as much as are the greedy GOP’ers. They know it took an entire governemnt to REMOVE REGULATION. Wall street only did what they were able to do with the governments blessings. They know this. No spin will change it.
They know Obama promised change. Nothings changed. They know this.
People know stuff. Lots of stuff. They dont have to live on blogs all day long to know stuff.
The stuff they know is that they are growing to hate their government officials. Not government. Their officials. As each political hack hawks his wares……….they know. They know its bull of the nth degree.
The people know. One day perhaps the pundits and the politicians will awake to this fact.
Yes both parties are to blame, but the assh&&&& on Wall Street are really to blame. Franks didn’t come up with a Gaussian copula function to quantify the risks of credit swaps and the insurers behind them.
The argument is not in toto but is a sum of the parts. Many things had to happen to get to the point where we are today.
Without a massive need for mortgages to underqualified customers there would be no need for massive bond trading and credit swaps.
Its the sum of the parts that make the whole.
This is the anger. People know stuff. No link to another web site will deflect the fact that people know stuff. We know what happened and it was just as much Barney Franks fault as it was Barak Obama or GWB’s fault.
We know that. We the people understand what happened and we are no longer going to let people spin it out of control. The spin is slowing and the politicians including Barak Obama are confused over what to do now that we the people will no longer be lied too. We will no longer accept the blame game. Accept lies and distortions by the minions of both sides.
We know what went on. Greed. Barney Frank got his axels greased. Wall street got their axels greased and the average American got hosed in the process. No spin. No deflection will absolve the government from this.
The people know what went on. We know stuff about this stuff.
Rudi, I am curious: Are you capable of EVER responding to a criticism of Democrats without instantly trying to change the subject?
You’re going on 3 years unbroken with that annoying pattern now running unbroken across 3 sites. That is an impressive record of partisan hackery even for the blogosphere.
Yes both parties are to blame
Both parties to blame – both Democrats and Republicans?? I don’t see you attacking the Republicans with the same venom you use against the Demonocrats. While I don’t agree with much of Larison’s politics, he’s at least honest when he critiques today’s conservatives. HotAir and this post claim Obama dropping in a couple polls, but no mention of Republicans dropping farther – And I’m the HACK?
Pew Obama -5% Republicans -6%
http://people-press.org/report/498/obama-approval-slips
Republicans, in particular, have become less supportive of their party’s leaders in Congress: just 43% of Republicans approve of their job performance, down from 55% just a month ago. By contrast, nearly half of Americans (47%) approve of the job Democratic congressional leaders are doing.
Rudi
The numbers you claim are a good thing in my opinion. People know stuff. They know why they voted for Obama. He promised change. He promised to be a cut above the old way of doing things and so far the only thing thats happened is that the Inspector General is going to investigate who knew what when.
Well good. However this still does not get to the heart of the issue. That issue is that Americans did not elect Obama to pass budgets that were mindlessly and fiscally the most unsound in our history.
Now the Obama administration is saying well our cap and trade wont produce 657 billion in taxes it will now produce 1.5 trillion in taxes trying to get us to buy into his huge spending binge.
Really short lesson to obama on cap and trade and taxes. Does anyone really think these corporations are going to pay these taxes?
Hello…..they are just going to raise their fees, or the price of their goods to pay this and voilla……massive tax on Americans because WE will pay it…….not them.
People know this stuff. We know whats going on. No deflection. No pointing to polls, no saying “Yeah but GWB or Yeah but Bill Clinton.”
We know stuff and its this stuff that the politicians are being hit in the face with now.
Yes.
Here’s why: Because you are one who believes that bad news about Democrats MUST ALWAYS be accompanied by equal bad news about Republicans. When this is not present, you consistently hijack the comments thread to insert it yourself and thus change the subject. You do not believe that bad news about Republicans must always be matched with bad news about Democrats, however. Your demand for “balance” is in fact precisely a demand for imbalance. Any criticism of Republicans is fine with you no matter what, but any criticism of Democrats must be mitigated by equal or exceeding criticism of Republicans before you will tolerate it.
Thus, I find your approach to be partisan and hackish.