In Washington, a crisis in competence

[bemildred]

Elected officials in the nation's capital have spent the past several weeks demonstrating that they can't do the jobs voters sent them there to do. On Capitol Hill, lawmakers got into an extended spat that shut down much of the government for 16 days and threatened to turn Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew into the world's biggest deadbeat. Meanwhile, the Obama administration launched a website for the new federally operated health insurance exchanges that failed epically, with so many design flaws and technical problems that it may take weeks to reach a basic level of reliability.

Granted, the government shutdown and the HealthCare.gov meltdown happened for very different reasons. The former was a result of a cynical and ill-conceived gambit by House Republicans, who tried to force changes in Obamacare that they didn't have the votes to win. The latter stemmed from the administration's inept management of a complex project, a problem exacerbated by political imperatives that repeatedly trumped technical ones.

The overarching message to the public, however, is the same in both instances: Your leaders are incompetent.

And the people are listening. Gallup reports that Congress' approval rating sank to an abysmal 11% during the shutdown, after rebounding slightly from its record low of 10% in February. President Obama, meanwhile, has seen his approval rating slide steadily this year to 39%, nearing the low point of his tenure. Dwindling faith in government has contributed to a pessimism about the economy that discourages consumer spending, the lifeblood of U.S. growth. According to surveys, the relentless stream of bad news out of Washington last month coincided with sharp drops in consumers' hopes for the economy and their confidence about the future.

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-competence-obama-congress-20131107,0,1021006.story

[Zorro]

1. When one political party ascribes to the belief that "government is the problem"

when elected they work to make it a self-fulfilling prophecy.

[Samantha]

2. But we the people are partially responsible as well

We allow ourselves to chronically be diverted from the big picture issues by permitting the opposition to hammer incessantly on the wedge issues. Classic Rove technique now running rampant throughout Republican circles. And WE indulge them.

Where are the jobs?

What kind of compromises are being discussed to meet the budget deadline next month?

When will the public be exposed to the full TTP draft legislation?

How many Dems are poised to cave on entitlement cuts?

When will corporations and members of the 1% be forced to start paying their fair share of taxes?

What are we doing as far as pushing for more infrastructure repairs, as outlined in the American Jobs Bill?

What percent of the voting public really cares what Ted Cruze thinks or Sarah Palin writes and why is there unending press coverage on these two individuals?

Why does the media not do its job and why do we tolerate it?

Sam

[Proud Liberal Dem]

3. Lesson:

As for Congress, we need to elect competent people who want government to work and it will. There is currently, unfortunately, a substantial contingent of Congressmen and Senators whom only "job" is sabotaging government and making it unnecessarily dysfunctional but that's what many of them were actually elected to do and their constituents don't really have a problem with what they are doing (or not doing).

As for the ACA, the rollout didn't go so well to be sure but it's nothing that can't be fixed and there were some obstacles and roadblocks that the Republicans and SCOTUS have placed in the way that, to some degree, resulted in things turning out how they have.