Standing in Congress vs Standing for America

Monday, January 25, 2010



It's funny...well, not really.


If the Congressional leaders that stand behind President Obama on Wednesday night during the State of the Union Address were more concerned with standing for Americans instead of merely standing up for partisan unity or presidential presence, perhaps the nation would not be as far behind on the path to recovery as it is today.

Wednesday's State of the Union address will probably not include much of the language that President Obama mentioned in his speech to Ohio residents after the Scott Brown victory in Massachusetts - namely, that he is willing to take his lumps as president. However, many of those lumps have come from friendly fire as the Democrats have taken their focus away from the primary issues as defined by the American people (jobs) in order to chase pet projects that have become their legislative Moby Dick (universal health care.)


Starting Wednesday, the Democrats will need to do a better job of listening more to the American people. Despite what many left-leaning politicos will say, the supermajority of 2009 was lost in 2010 because of the Democrats' inability to balance the ambition of congressional leaders with the will of most Americans. Some of the failures of the Democrats throughout 2009 have come from overreach by Obama, Pelosi, and Reid, risk-taking that led to questionable behavior including the "Cornhusker Kickback" and the "Louisiana Purchase." Instead of standing up for Americans to promote a better and unified nation, they took a stand in order to promote their ideas and avenues for actions.


Sadly, the Democrats did more to follow the lead of the Republican congresses before them this decade and look to please themselves over standing up for the nation while in office. Ironically, the Democrats are the party that is seen as more populist - or, at least, it was seen that way from 2006 through last year. Perhaps bipartisanship leadership - not supermajority status - will make the difference and allow 2010 to be the year where Congress does more for the American people than spend more money, do less for everyday Americans, and invoke President Bush's legacy repeatedly as a cause for their shortcomings.