Don't blame Obama. The US political system is broken

[Fozzledick]

America's founders were keen to create a system that moved slowly. Yet now we have a system that barely moves at all

Michael Tomasky
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 13 December 2009 22.30 GMT

A recent political development in your country has me reflecting again on my country's political situation and wondering what on earth we Americans are going to do about a system that is irrefutably and almost irredeemably stuck in a state of paralysis.

...

Sigh. If you've been watching the Washington healthcare debate, you know what that sigh was about. We Americans have always been proud of our constitution and the principle of separation of powers. The system has always ensured that the minority party has certain rights and that the executive branch cannot just muscle through Congress any old thing that it wants. Our founders wanted a system that moved slowly.

Do they ever have it. In fact, we now have a system that barely moves at all. Watching American politics through British eyes, you must be utterly mystified as to why Barack Obama hasn't gotten this healthcare bill passed yet. Many Americans are too. The instinctive reflex is to blame Obama. He must be doing something wrong. Maybe he is doing a thing or two wrong. But the main thing is that America's political system is broken.

How did this happen? Two main factors made it so. The first is the super-majority requirement to end debate in the Senate. The second is the near-unanimous obstinacy of the Republican opposition. They have made important legislative work all but impossible.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/dec/13/america-broken-political-system-obama

[rollingrock]

1. Obama ran on a platform of doing things differently

but so far, he has acted like another typical Washington politician, the same ones he railed against during the campaign.

[gateley]

9. But under the umbrella of "differently" I don't think he meant he

would change the way our system (slowly) works. He can't do that, can he?

Even Bernie Sanders said that things move s-l-o-w-l-y in Congress and I thought -- can we change that?

I really think in "Congress Time" this has been moving along pretty quickly. It's just slow as hell to the rest of the world.

[rollingrock]

11. So what did he mean by "Change we can believe in?"

I'm not talking about changing the entire political system. No one expects him to do the impossible...Obama only needs to worry about changing the way things are done in the EXECUTIVE BRANCH of government, because that is his realm of influence and what he is personally in charge of. as the head of the executive branch, he absolutely has the power to change the way things are done in that area. but so far, he has failed or refused to implement the change he promised within his own circle and sphere of influence.

[avaistheone1]

35. He didn't think you were smart enough to think about it.

[pokercat999]

16. All lies and jest. Let me know when you can tell them apart. nt

[marmar]

2. Like a computer that's so virus-ed up that it's past saving......

..... The virus being corporate money and greed.

[flying rabbit]

20. This country has been running Windows

for years.

[ProgressOnTheMove]

29. Probably more DOS, windows can multi-task on a good day.

[Odin2005]

21. And Burduned by spy-ware clogging the system!

In fact it sounds a lot like my mom's old computer...

[itsrobert]

3. What happen to his promise of "Change"

We can believe in?

Afghanistan: Check
Still in Iraq: Check
More spying on Americans: Check
No Single Payer: Check
No public option: Check
No change: Check

[niceypoo]

31. Your list is decieving

During the election he promised to back off in Iraq and concentrate on Afghanistan. He has done both.

We are still in Iraq but US troops have pulled out of the cities and are preparing to leave the country, exactly as promised.

Not sure where this spying is going on, could you be specific?

The health care bill itself represents change.

I suggest you start over with your checklist.

[timeforpeace]

4. Author must have missed the memo. The new phrase is "ungovernable". That's us. Not Obama's fault.

[depakid]

10. Unfortunately, it's a structural problem

with few workable remedies. Bottom line is that while parliamentary forms of governments have progressed and reformed, 21st Century America remains mired in an archaic 18th Century model that leaves the nation incapable of responding to challenges with timely and effective policy solutions.

As the OP notes- it's foolish to "blame" Obama for this- though there's certainly a lot more that the executive branch and the administrative agencies could be doing without worrying with the Senate.

[Odin2005]

24. We need a German-style federalized parliamentary system, IMO.

With partial Proportional Representation.

[depakid]

28. IRV (preferential voting) like Australia uses would also help

[timeforpeace]

5. Have a feeling "Don't Blame Obama" isn't going to be a winning slogan in 2012.

[MissDeeds]

19. Yep

What happened to "The buck stops here"? Oh. That was so yesterday. Now, it's not Obama's fault. Please.

:eyes:

[Vincardog]

6. Funny it seems to work fast enough for FASCISTS and WARMONGERS

[timeforpeace]

8. Good point. Bush mostly got what he wanted when he wanted it. Something's missing with Obama's

approach.

[Andy823]

12. The difference is

Bush didn't care how congress got what he wanted, as long as they got it, and Delay didn't mince words when he wanted votes, he got them, and if he didn't get them, then those who crossed him paid dearly. We need the same kind of leaders who can get the votes, and not play games, or compromise every "real" bit of reform out of a bill. Now I hate republicans, but at least they follow their party, and do what their leaders want them to do, even though what they are doing is wrong. Democrats seem to not be able to pull the party together to get the votes, and are afraid to use the tactics that the republicans used to get Bush's tax cuts, and everything else he wanted when they were in charge. Somebody needs to get tough, and I think president Obama is the one that has to do that, and then he needs to lay down the law to Reid and Pelosi, and tell them since the republicans aren't going to work with us at all, no matter what, we need to simply push these bills through, the ones that are "REAL" reform and change, and forget about being nice to them. Same goes with democrats who want to vote to help the big corporations that are paying them off to kill and bills they don't like. I support my president, but I think it's time to take of the gloves and kick some butt for the people of this country!

[Vincardog]

13. it's time to take of the gloves and kick some butt for the people of this country! Damned right

[BeyondGeography]

37. We want different things and taking from vested interests is harder than giving them goodies

I wish the hidden admirers of Bush's MO would at least take into account that handing money over to rich people in the form of tax cuts and scaring people into war after 9/11 had a lower degree of difficulty than expanding health care to poor people and re-writing the economics of one of the largest (and best represented politically) industries in the country.

[Scarsdale Vibe]

22. Bush didn't get much of anything he wanted domestically from 2005-2008.

We'll never know how political history might have been without 9/11, but a few years removed from its aftermath, and Bush was totally ineffectual on domestic legislation.

[chill_wind]

17. And BANKSTERS.

[Beverly Prather]

25. The Corporations are in the drivers seat, not the Govt.

I'm sure we have no government, just a hugh govt payroll. Obama fed the corporations on billions....they fed his ego on a Nobel...and now...right back to the rape, burn pillage...they just needed a breather

[readmoreoften]

7. It's not broken. It works the way it's supposed to work: against working people

and for the rich.

[Vincardog]

15. Take that line on over to the other web site

[Karenina]

33. If you are unaware that the system has been tweaked

over a dozen decades to protect the interests of the moneyed elite to the detriment of the working classes, I would suggest that your own sense of direction is rather weak. :rofl:

[Vincardog]

34. I was responding to " It works the way it's supposed to work: against working people" It is not

supposed to work that way

[Karenina]

38. THAT depends on your vantage point!

;-)

[DrToast]

14. I can blame the Democrats who don't do anything about it when they have the power to do so.

*

[quaker bill]

30. You can blame anything you like

but it doesn't change facts.

[niceypoo]

32. The facts are...

...the Democrats are timid and weak kneed.

Every election since Reagan, the political system in the US gets pushed further and further to the right. The Democrats are now center right. The Dems in congress are too timid and afraid to anger the republicans, so they bend to their will even when the republicans have no power, why I don't know. The healthcare bill is a prime example of this. The republicans are complete obnoxious assholes and getting worse every year. The more obnoxious the right becomes, the more submissive the Democrats become. Very similar to battered wife syndrome.

Because Bush was allowed to get away with everything he did, the next republican administration that comes along will be worse. Bush/Cheney will be the baseline starting point for the next one.

[quaker bill]

40. You are full of it

It is just that the Democrats who have a spine number about or slightly less than 50 in the Senate. Whether one submits or loses, the result is the same. Republicans are irrelevant.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

18. We still have very strong right wing control

Obama isn't able to move

[Odin2005]

23. It's the unstoppable force running into the immovable object.

The force being Obama and the Netroots that put him into office. The object being the fucked up political system.

[Nedsdag]

26. I've been saying this since Day One.

Yet everyone blames Obama.

Until the current political system (:cough:lobbyists:cough: ) are banished, this will continue to go on.

[Beverly Prather]

27. It's not "broken"...it's just not working... here is the reason...

The govt gets their paychecks anyway...they don't have to actually do anything...

[newportdadde]

36. I often wonder why the founding fathers didn't put in term limits.

I *think* I remember seeing were Adams and Jefferson were both for them but for the life of me I will never understand why they were not put in place.

[mkultra]

39. OBAMA BROKE IT!

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

41. It's NOT the system, per say. It's the M-O-N-E-Y!!! Get money out of poliTRICKS

only then will you get true change!!!!