IMO, an oustanding opinion piece.
http://www.usnews.com/opinion/artic...as-actions-should-back-up-his-words-?PageNr=1
It seems to have started with Vice President Joe Biden, back in February of last year: "Washington right now is broken," he told CBS News. "I've never seen it this dysfunctional." From their point of view, it wasn't "broken" until they lost that 60th vote.
By the 2010 midterm elections, things began to change. Voters supported Tea Party candidates in a historic sweep of the House. Republicans began to put the spending brakes on, but the president seemed to have a tin ear to it all. He didn't sense that the ground was shifting, that Americans were starting to get uncomfortable. He plowed ahead with a federal budget with massive "investments" that didn't get past the Democratic Senate, ignored the Simpson-Bowles commission's recommendations in his State of the Union address, and failed to propose his own plan in the debt-ceiling negotiations. Instead, he put himself at the mercy of congressional negotiators, as he had with the stimulus and healthcare bills. It's no surprise the markets have reacted the way they have. Like many of us, they too sense a growing disconnect between Washington and Main Street.
In his press conference, Obama called on congressional leaders to stop drawing "lines in the sand," meaning that they need to stop standing up for their principles.
That explains why a majority of Americans think we're on the wrong track for the longest period ever in our nation's history.
There's a gaping hole in American politics right now that's not being filled by either party, a disconnect with a nation hungry for common-sense solutions. People from Main Street to Wall Street are looking for old-fashioned leadership in a crisis.
http://www.usnews.com/opinion/artic...as-actions-should-back-up-his-words-?PageNr=1
It seems to have started with Vice President Joe Biden, back in February of last year: "Washington right now is broken," he told CBS News. "I've never seen it this dysfunctional." From their point of view, it wasn't "broken" until they lost that 60th vote.
By the 2010 midterm elections, things began to change. Voters supported Tea Party candidates in a historic sweep of the House. Republicans began to put the spending brakes on, but the president seemed to have a tin ear to it all. He didn't sense that the ground was shifting, that Americans were starting to get uncomfortable. He plowed ahead with a federal budget with massive "investments" that didn't get past the Democratic Senate, ignored the Simpson-Bowles commission's recommendations in his State of the Union address, and failed to propose his own plan in the debt-ceiling negotiations. Instead, he put himself at the mercy of congressional negotiators, as he had with the stimulus and healthcare bills. It's no surprise the markets have reacted the way they have. Like many of us, they too sense a growing disconnect between Washington and Main Street.
In his press conference, Obama called on congressional leaders to stop drawing "lines in the sand," meaning that they need to stop standing up for their principles.
That explains why a majority of Americans think we're on the wrong track for the longest period ever in our nation's history.
There's a gaping hole in American politics right now that's not being filled by either party, a disconnect with a nation hungry for common-sense solutions. People from Main Street to Wall Street are looking for old-fashioned leadership in a crisis.
