Cirque de Congress

One of the things that is odd about the current election, and only one of many, is the fact that the Democrats swept into power, so to speak, on a campaign of Change you can Believe In. Well they gave us change, and I think most Americans believe they did, but it seems a good number of them are angry about it.

Over the last two years, perhaps the biggest change was the Health Reform Bill. It seems like a historic bill that is going to increase care for millions of Americans, reduce cost, provide protections for all Americans related to losing coverage in a catastrophic illness or inability to find coverage due to a pre-existing condition, failed to please just about anyone. The Republicans and Tea Partiers are attacking the bill as a Government takeover of health care, it isn't, an expensive bill that will increase the deficit, it won't, and just a move to socialism. The liberals don't think the bill went far enough fast enough.

Now in the world of negotiation, it is commonly believed that if everyone leaves the table a little unhappy the deal that was struck was probably a good one for everybody. That is probably the case here, but unfortunately the debate has been controlled by the extremes on both sides. Generally, the Democrats are afraid their votes for the bill is going to end their political career have been afraid to tout its benefits.

In fact the thing that seems to upset Americans the most is that the congress actually did quite a bit over the last two years. An activist congress during a period of economic distress is not something Americans like. Most years Congress is assailed as a bunch of do-nothings. Not this year. They seem to be to blame for just about everything.

Now, the election is only a few days away and the results are probably pretty much determined. It seems like the Democrats will hold on to the Senate but probably lose control of the House. The Senate majority certainly won't be enough to overcome Republican opposition and I expect the House to become one gigantic press opportunity. Of course a certain number of Tea Party Candidates will be there to add some entertainment value, but they are in a no-lose situation, since they hate Government and the more they can hinder any progress the better for them.

I anticipate a budget impasse over all the spending bills for 2012 as the concept of compromise gets voted out next week. It may be OK, especially if the lame duck congress can get some things done before they go home. The best you can hope for is that Congress doesn't actually make things terribly worse at this point; the group coming in has no chance of making things better.