Jeneba Ghatt

Enough already with all the puffery. It’s only November, and I am getting increasingly frustrated over what appears to be shaping up as quite a stalemate in the 112th Congress.

With the lame duck session already underway, none of the controversial legislation on the docket looks remotely close to being passed before Congress recesses for Winter break.  No START.  No Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.  No Dream Act. No extension of the Middle Class Tax Cuts.  Nothing!

The First Lady’s bill to get healthy, nutritious food to school children hasn’t even passed.  And congressional Republicans voted last Thursday to deny an extension of unemployment benefits for jobless Americans, and tried to cut off public funding for National Public Radio, though the effort died due to a procedural issue.

While I am anxious to see what a Republican-lead Congress will offer to help turn the tide on economic recession and get more Americans back to work, I must say, there appears to be more chest beating and showboating than anything else going on right now.  And I’ve yet to see the presentation of any concrete solutions, just ‘no, no, and more no.’

This political gamesmanship is just ‘business as usual,’ and it’s not what the American people want or need right now.

It would help tremendously if Republican members of Congress would stop behaving as if the American people put them in power for the sole purpose of  reversing all of the legislation the Democrats have put in place during the first 18 months of the Obama administration.

Instead of acting as if the midterm election results were a mandate by ‘the people’ to reverse Democratic policies, understand this:  a mere 47 million Americans got out to vote this year.  There are more than 310 million people in this country.  Though incredibly important, the votes of 15% of our nation’s population is not necessarily indicative of a trend.

What’s more, the 47 million people who came out to vote in the midterms is but one third the number of people who got up off their couches and went to the polls in 2008 to elect Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States of America.

While it’s not clear that Americans voted to reverse Democratic policies on Nov. 2, what is clear is that those who voted did so because they think something is broken in Washington, in our economy, and votes were cast in favor of the party and people we thought were best equipped to address the problems.
That said, how about an end to all the grandstanding.  When will the new Congressional leadership get to work and clarify their vision for creating jobs and moving the economy forward?  I realize that cutting the budget and dealing with the deficit in a priority, but an even bigger priority is stabilizing the economy and creating jobs.

We voters have little to no patience.  Republicans know this and were able to capitalize on voter frustration and use it to their advantage during midterms. If they don’t get into gear, though, what they will see is mounting frustration, which in turn, will increase the likelihood of greater than average voter turnout for the 2012 presidential election.

A historic 61.6 percent of those eligible to vote did so in 2008 — the highest turnout since the 62.8 percent who voted in 1964 — let that be a lesson, that when people really want change, they vote for it.  The American voters, including the millions of youth and Black voters who came out in 2008, are watching and will vote in line with whichever party is doing the best for their best interest.

Republicans have just two years to get it in gear and as we’ve seen how quickly two years can fly by.  Now is not the time for ‘no,’ but rather a time for cooperation and change.  Let this year be a lesson, if change doesn’t come quick enough, we’re voting you out!

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