Pardon my pessimism…

The NBC Nightly News had a story on Wednesday night of this week about the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal survey of U.S. citizens about their feelings about government and the President and how things are going. I was not surprised to hear that President Obama’s ratings have plunged and that now more people believe that the country is headed in the wrong direction than believe we are headed in the right direction. A majority now disagrees with the President and rates his job performance below average.

If you look back over as many Presidents as I can remember in modern history – which we would likely need to start at about the Kennedy era – that same thing happens to them all. They come in on a wave of hope and optimism, with supporters all around and great press; but, within a year or so they are considered to be scoundrels who need to be booted out of office. We are a hard people to keep happy.

I will certainly admit to being a bit of a pessimist, mainly about the ability of any government run program more so than about the President. I though that George W. Bush was without the intellect necessary to lead, but for the most part our Presidents of late have not been the problem. Presidents can provide broad policy guidance, but it is the Congress making laws and the Federal bureaucracy promulgating rules and regulations who cause the real problems, both through their pandering and condescending laws and the absolutely mind bogglingly stupid regulations. Just read back through my recent posts on the totally unsuccessful HARP, HAMP, HAFA, D4L programs that have been foisted off on hopeful and trusting homeowners who believed that help was on the way.

Author Ken Kesey would today set One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest in Washington instead of an insane asylum, unless of course that was too obvious, even back then. One outcome of the NBC poll that was also painfully obvious is that poll respondents think that this past year was one of increased division in the political process. Our political climate is in worse condition that our global climate, with the two parties at such diverse odds that almost nothing can get done.

I continue to think it is time to scrap the two-party system in favor of finding some folks in the middle who can do more than just argue with each other. Maybe it could call itself the do-something party. Of course, the current Republican Right wing would likely object because “Do Nothing” has been their rallying cry for quite some time. And perhaps the Left wing Democrats whose cause seems at times to be “Do Everything” would object too.

So here we are again – an unhappy people – against whatever our leadership is trying to do and whatever ideas are on the legislative table. We don’t like what has been suggested, but we don’t like where we are either. We don’t like where either party would take us next, but we sure can’t stay where we are. We don’t want to be left to fail, but we don’t want the help that you offer, either. What a pathetic situation for a nation to be in; but what are you looking at over there – mind your own business. Who in their right mind would want to be President of this crew?