Bracing for impact in Washington
We’ve had a leadership-challenged Congress for quite some time now. Last election moved some of the seats around, putting Democrats in control on Capitol Hill and in the White House. Business is about to begin in the new session. Now what?
Well, the challenge to Congress is now of historic proportion.
Democrats will pack greater clout when the new Congress convenes on Tuesday but they face enormous expectations from voters as they grapple with two wars, a financial crisis and record budget deficits.
And the fact that they won this majority by promising voters change, for the better.
Other Democratic promises include: withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq and redeploying many of them in Afghanistan; expanding health care; bolstering regulation of the financial industry and developing alternative energy sources while curbing pollution that contributes to global warming.
But the roadmap to change has been re-written and the goals redefined (which is politics as usual, actually).
“…Obama needs to lower expectations,” said Paul Light of New York University’s Center for the Study of Congress.
“There is a historic gap between promises made and promises fulfilled. Converting promises into reality is a difficult process,” Light said, noting major legislation must wind through a maze of committees.
But until he’s sworn in, Obama is still smoothly making promises.
“I am optimistic that if we come together to seek solutions that advance not the interests of any party, or the agenda of any one group, but the aspirations of all Americans, then we will meet the challenges of our time,” he said in his party’s weekly radio address.
His chief of staff Rahm Emanuel is helping advance that rhetoric. Or message, if you will. They realize we’re deep into trouble, and their jobs in Washington have become mission critical.
Lawmakers sense that the need for action is urgent, Emanuel said, and they recognize that Congress’s dismal approval ratings would make them easy scapegoats if the gamesmanship continues. “You never allow a serious crisis to go to waste,” Emanuel said. “People sense that we’re at a different moment in time, and that you have to put aside preconceived notions and partisanship to solve problems.”
Remember these lines when they actually get down to business this week, and after the inauguration. The press probably won’t, but never mind them. We have to hold leaders accountable.
