View From Down Under

I’ve written before about the lack of statesmanship in the House and Senate, and how getting re-elected is a more powerful motivator than doing what’s best for the country.  It seems that Americans are fed up with it as well.

The anti incumbent cannons are loaded and pointing directly at Congress.  A recent AP/GfK poll found that while 53% of Americans think Obama is doing a good job, only 22% think Congress is doing a good job.  This is also remarkably bi-partisan.  61% of Americans think the Democrats in Congress are doing a lousy job, and 67% think the same of Republicans.

In worse news for incumbents, almost half of those polled want their own member of Congress replaced.  In the past, most people have tended to complain about Congress as a whole, but have supported their own member.  Now this dynamic is breaking down, and is no doubt the reason so many incumbents are retiring rather than face re-election.

In Texas a sitting Senator (Kay Bailey Hutchison) challenged a sitting Governor (Rick Perry) in the Republican primary (which in itself is quite remarkable).  Governor Perry pulled out a convincing win with a campaign that highlighted the Senator’s ties to Washington.  Hutchison, who was leading the polls going into the race, got 30% of the vote to Perry’s 51%  - the tea party candidate picked up the other 19%.  Perry’s anti-Washington tactics are likely to be widely copied in other states.

Both the left and the right are trying to take advantage of the sentiment.  Organisations from Moveon.org and the SEIU to tea partiers and NFRA are seizing the moment to either pressure sitting members to vote their way, or replace them with candidates who will.

The view from down under is this is likely to make Congress even less effective.  Replacing sitting members of Congress with others who are either more to the left or more to the right will only guarantee future deadlock.  The US will get more grandstanding and less compromise.