For all the hoopla over former Sen. Rick Santorum’s (Pa.) Tuesday sweep of Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri, the dynamics of the Republican presidential race have changed little. While former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney seems unable to actually win the nomination, it is still awfully difficult to see him losing it.
As Arizona GOP Sen. John McCain is fond of saying, Congress, with an approval rating of 9 percent to 13 percent, is down to “blood relatives and paid staff.” It is no wonder that President Barack Obama is running against the “do-nothing” 112th Congress and that the pitch is resonating with lots of voters.
There is plenty of evidence that the political discourse in this country has degenerated into the gutter. But anger, hatred, name-calling and political musical chairs all at the same time? Welcome to the soap opera that is Southeast Florida.
The perfect storm of fiscal fixes was precipitated by press releases from Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) commemorating the thousandth day since the Senate last adopted a Congressional budget resolution back on April 29, 2009.
The silly season — when ridiculous, reckless or just plan irresponsible budget-related plans or ideas are proposed and, sadly, often debated — typically doesn’t happen at the start of the year. This year is clearly different.
The conventional wisdom now is that, even with the Republican nomination slipping further and further away, former Speaker Newt Gingrich will fight tooth and nail all the way to Tampa, making life miserable for the party’s likely nominee, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
It is good that we will have some disclosure of the mega-donors to the spate of super PACs that have dominated presidential primaries and caucuses so far, but it is ridiculous that reporting requirements are so lame.
Events drive public sentiment, which then shows up in polling. Then, people who either want to make a splash or more often simply want to drive home partisan talking points use the numbers to proclaim a fundamental shift in public opinion and political reality, regardless of whether there is one.
It is OK to provide services to contributors. In fact, the Senate Ethics Manual specifically says that providing constituent services to contributors is “a legitimate and appropriate senatorial function.” However, as the Senate Ethics Committee has acknowledged, things are a little more complicated when requests for help come from contributors.
You would think that the deficit and national debt that many in Congress keep telling us are way too big would prompt a serious discussion about what should be done that has at least some prospect of actually succeeding.
The clear expectation is Congress will get very little done this election year. But what does get accomplished, at least in the high-profile areas, will largely be the handiwork of an elite group of staffers — who combine policy expertise, political acumen and the trust of their lawmaker bosses to drive much of the legislative agenda.
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