Gridlock no longer a dirty word

January 31, 2006

The latest NBC/WSJ poll has plenty of the usual bad news for the GOP — Bush’s approval is at 39%, Republicans are seen as more corrupt than Dems, a clear majority are concerned that warrantless searches could be misused and could violate a person’s privacy, Americans prefer a Dem-run Congress 47% to 38% — but there’s one question that NBC/WSJ always includes in its national poll that never gets enough attention. (It’s from the subscription-only internals.)

Which of the following roles would you like to see the Democrats in Congress play?

A) Work in a bipartisan way with Republicans to help pass President Bush’s legislative priorities so that we do not have gridlock, OR B) Provide a balance to make sure that President Bush and the Republicans do not go too far in pushing their agenda.

No one likes “partisan gridlock,” right? The conventional wisdom tells us that voters long for politicians who can work cooperatively. Republicans throw the “obstructionist” label around frequently, which makes Dems worry about public perceptions.

And yet, the results from this question weren’t even close — 58% want Dems to make sure the GOP doesn’t go too far, while 34% want Dems to work in a bi-partisan way to avoid gridlock. The results are nearly identical to an NBC/WSJ poll done this time last year.

It’s numbers like these that Dems should keep in mind the next time Senate Republicans start whining about how desperate the American people are to see bipartisan cooperation. By a wide margin, people are far more worried about the GOP going too far. Voters want a real opposition party that will stand as a barrier against Republican excess.

“Obstructionism” isn’t much of an insult if it has majority support.

Do the lazy, sloppy, gravy-sucking, Republican-appeasing Democrats think that America is the only country without an opposition party? Apparently. Must be a result of our thinking of ourselves as “God’s chosen people” or something. Or maybe not thinking at all.

We really haven’t made much progress since the Red Scare, have we?

It’s not un-American to oppose the current government. Just ask the Founding Fathers.

  • Out here in Red Statesville, one often hears that oldie (but goodie): I like a bi-partisan Congress; that way, they they keep each other from screwing things up completely!

    (We hate change. Only good polly-tishen is a dead polly-tishen. )

  • Well, CB, if you take away the “accused of being obstructionist” boogeyman, shouldn’t you have to replace it with something?

    I mean, think of the political reporters and party officials. If you take this away, they will need something else to peddle as accepted wisdom.

  • PW,

    Forgive me if I’ve said this before. A Sicilian-American friend back in high school (dark ages) told me his family had a saying: whenever you spot a priest or a politician throw a rock. I think he may have had something there.

  • The opposite of obstructionism is appeasement. How do we get the leaders of the Democratic party to understand that Americans in general, and Democrats in particular, do not want Democrats in the congress to appease Republican extremism???

  • Sixty percent of the American people don’t like
    where the Republicans are taking them, and
    they don’t even know the half of what these bastards
    are really up to. That’s the good news. Americans
    don’t want this kind of country.

    But are they prepared to vote for a change, and
    are the Democrats prepared to step up and show
    them another way? I don’t know. I’m afraid not.
    That’s the bad news.

  • Always nice to see my moniker in a headline.

    I’ve been preaching the power of gridlock for the last 20 years. You don’t want too much power in the hands of one party, Repug or Dem. You need a split congress or at least split Executive and Legislative arms.

    Bring back that old-fashioned Gridlock.

  • But are they prepared to vote for a change, and
    are the Democrats prepared to step up and show
    them another way?

    hark, only the second half of that sentence matters one wit. As long as Dems worry about what voters will do, instead of what they can do to excite voters, they’ll never get anywhere. This is 101 stuff and all the Dem leaders who aren’t out there swinging punches at corruption and malfeasance are gonna get what’s coming to them: unemployment. So where are the cadre of young Dems ready to step into the breach and reclaim the helm?

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