CHICAGO – It's back to school time, again. It's a shame we can't send Congress back to the classroom, too, to re-take civics class, American history and, generally speaking, how to get along with their classmates. Because the toxic cloud of discourse has grown so poisonous it's actually infecting the economy and markets well beyond our borders.
The debt ceiling deal – if you can call it that since it does next to nothing to address the long-term problem – is a real world example of too little, too late. While the deal buoyed the markets the next day, the international free fall that followed showed us all what business thinks of the patchwork solution and the bitter battle our lawmakers fought to get there.
It's funny. It used to be that our elected officials – from the president all the way down to the smallest state rep – were supposed to represent the best of us. Now, watching them posture for elections instead of working for their constituents, it's clear they're more like the worst of us.
But if there's anything this snarky homeroom of a Congress and distracted substitute teacher of a president have managed to accomplish this year, it's to stoke the flames of bipartisan discontent (rage?) among the vast silent majority of Americans who don't sit at one fringe or the other of American politics.
Most of us just want to be left alone to do our jobs, live our lives and we strangely expect our elected officials to do the same. Instead, we get petulant teens posturing for cable news and the next election. The greater good? Forget about it. That's become as passé as the U.S. Postal Service.
And before you starting hammering away at your keyboard to attack this humble editor for his left and/or right-wing leanings, I want to be very clear how disgusted I am with everyone in DC right now.
Congress is a mess, driven by ideological extremes. Forget compromise and legislation. They're all about ultimatums and sound bites.
And you could blame the president, but that would require him to actually show some leadership or sense of responsibility. He talks nice, but disappears when things get tough. Don't just take my word for it. In the wake of the debt ceiling fiasco, Congressional approval ratings fell to 14 percent, while Obama bottomed out at 40 percent, his lowest yet. And these numbers broke long before the market tanked, our credit rating fell and the Communist Chinese began lecturing us about fiscal responsibility.
I can't remember being this embarrassed to be an American. How much longer until our elected officials are shamed into doing their jobs? And how much longer will it be until our credit score falls far enough that even the banks we bailed out a few years back wouldn't even float us a loan? Guess we still have those payday loan joints.
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