Vote the Bums Out…or not
Betsy Newmark at Betsy’s Page notes a David Broder column, in which Broder urges voters to make a change in Washington. Broder’s idea is that the voters need to tell their reps that they are, “tired of the partisan bickering, tired of the gridlock and eager to elect people who will focus on the real problems and work together to find solutions.”. Betsy rightly asks if all the investigation the Democrats are promising will bring about that wonderful, bipartisan spirit. Bullwinkle comes to the same conclusion. I’d ask if we ever had such a spirit when the Democrats controlled both houses and the Presidency.
Yeah, right.
To this I would add a question I’ve asked before. Broder notes poll numbers (and yes, I hate polls) that show low marks for the President and Congress. But this doesn’t mean that voters want Democrats to take over Congress. If you look at the Right side of the blogosphere, you’ll find plenty of folks unhappy with the way Republicans have been governing, not because they’re not more like the Democrats, but because they’re not acting like the Republicans they sold themselves as. The smaller government, lower spending politicians just don’t have enough of clout in the party. (I’m talking about the ones who will actually do it, not just the ones willing to say it.) If a President is to be judged by poll numbers, I daresay that if Bush and Congress started governing more to the right, those numbers would go up. Broder’s conclusion about the number is:
What is driving public opinion is an overall impression that those in office — meaning mainly Republicans — have let things slide out of control and need to be relieved.
But I’d say that many of the buyers–those voters who took control of Congress and the presidency from the Democrats and gave it to the Republicans–are having remorse, not for the “good ol’ days”, but for the fact that the conservatism they expected didn’t go far enough.
An approval rating number tells you nothing about the reason folks are happy or upset. Drawing conclusions based on that alone is pointless. But look at the words from the Right side of the blogosphere and you’ll see that much of the disapproval is not because we want higher taxes and more government, nanny-state giveaways and want to yank our troops out before Iraq is ready to defend itself. If running things more conservative would bring the magic numbers up, would those in the Center or on the Left calling for change be satisfied? I really doubt it.
Yes, as Broder says, get out there and vote. Use the power you have. But I’d say consider the direction you really want the country to go in, and don’t get sucked in with false promises of doves and butterflies in Washington.
Technorati Tags: David Broder, bipartisanship, voting, polls
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