Contempt of Congress: America wants to throw the bums out
Contempt of Congress: America wants to throw the bums out
By Brent Budowsky - 02/12/10
While the Republican hack wing of the Tea Party movement thinks it is smart, Republicans in Congress are in for a rude awakening, because huge numbers of the American people hold them in contempt. While the Democratic partisans may think public relations will strengthen their position, Democrats in Congress are in for a rude awakening because the American people hold them in contempt, too.
Favorable numbers for Congress have sunk as low as 15 percent in many polls; unfavorable numbers have risen to 70 percent and approach 80 percent in many polls. This has nothing to do with George W. Bush or Barack Obama. It is part of a continuing climate of contempt for Congress that has been steadily growing as Congress appears out of touch with the nation, bought and paid for by lobbyists and corrupt to the core in the eyes of large numbers of voters.
The growing number of Republican retirements and the large number of Democratic departures is a signal that members now sense the tsunami that is coming. There is a very deep and strong and growing contempt and disgust from an angry nation toward an isolated and impotent Congress.
Republicans make a big, big mistake thinking it benefits them. There will be more and more Republican retirements and some very surprising Republicans defeated in primaries by other Republicans, and in the general election by Democrats.
Democrats make a big, big mistake continuing the lack of toughness and principle that has gotten them in trouble, and believing there are public-relations answers to what is a far deeper problem.
We are on the brink of an anti-incumbent tsunami of potentially epic proportion.
My advice to Democrats is to run against the obstructionism of Republicans and turn the anti-Congress contempt against Republicans as a group. But this takes guts and fight, which Democrats usually lack.
Make no mistake, something very profound is happening with the exponential contempt being expressed for Congress throughout the nation and across the political spectrum.
The gathering storm is coming, and no incumbent from either party is safe from the storm.
Budowsky was an aide to former Sen. Lloyd Bentsen and Bill Alexander, then chief deputy majority whip of the House. He holds an LL.M. degree in international financial law from the London School of Economics. He can be read on The Hill’s Pundits Blog and reached at [email protected] This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .