Today's Wall Street Journal has an article entitled, "As U.S. Economic Problems Loom, House, Senate Sweat the Small Stuff."The article begins with this observation, "The 110th Congress, whose term officially ends in January, hasn't passed any spending bills or attacked high gasoline prices. But it has used its powers to celebrate watermelons and to decree the origins of the word "baseball."
It goes on to say,
"Barring a burst of legislative activity after Labor Day, this group of 535 men and women will have accomplished a rare feat. In two decades of record keeping, no sitting Congress has passed fewer public laws at this point in the session -- 294 so far -- than this one. That's not to say they've been idle. On the flip side, no Congress in the same 20 years has been so prolific when it comes to proposing resolutions -- more than 1,900, according to a tally by the nonpartisan Taxpayers for Common Sense."
This makes Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid's Congress a true "do nothing" Congress. Lazy--plain and simple.
The Democrats control Washington, D.C. Make no mistake about that. The "bully pulpit" of the Presidency and all the glitz and glamour associated with that job have most Americans blaming the President for every American problem. When our framers wrote the Constitution, they used Article I to define Congress and its powers. They used Article II to create the executive branch. This was no accident. Congress is the first branch of government.
Why this Constitutional lecture on a Wednesday from me? Because the Democrats have run the 110th Congress and have set the agenda for America for 2 years. Nancy Pelosi has done so. How are things the last 2 years? Gas prices have shot up on her watch. The economy has slowed under her watch.
What have she and the Democrats in Congress done? They designated May 5-9 as "National Substitute Teacher Recognition Week." They set July 28 as the "Day of the American Cowboy." What have they done about high oil prices or this economic slow down? Diddly.
There is a tendency to blame President Bush for everything, everywhere. President Bush and the Republican Congressional leadership provided great stewardship of the economy for 6 years. We survived major corporate scandals and the largest violent attack on America in history. Our economy came back after 9/11 and went strong until a recent, expected, cyclical slow down that is not yet an official recession.
It seems the Democrats have escaped blame everywhere. Our governor in Ohio remains popular despite pandering to one interest group in his party--organized labor. He will oversee the loss of thousands of jobs in Wilmington, yet the commercials somehow try and blame John McCain. Governor Strickland has done nothing to spur economic development in Ohio and his few legislative victories have come because of Republican leadership.
We see this phenomenon locally as well. The budget crunch we face in the County is happening under Democrat leadership. The Sheriff is dropping patrols, closing jail space, and making cuts that affect our safety. Has there been Democrat leadership to fix these problems? You be the judge.
The days of the Democrats blaming President Bush for everything including the weather are about to end.
Where they run government, they must be accountable. When held accountable, they will lose elections.
