Pun intended. E.J. Dionne talks about our dysfunctional democracy today. He does acknowledge that it's not really better anywhere else these days. During the George W. Bush days we liberals would look to Western Europe. However, Europe today is not worth envying under the miserable Euro straitjacket.
In the U.S. the trouble is Congressional gridlock. E.J. wonders if are system of government is conducive to democracy.
"We know American politics are dysfunctional. But after a week of scandal obsessionduring which the nation’s capital and the media virtually ignored the problems most voters care about — jobs, incomes, growth, opportunity, education — it’s worth asking if there is something especially flawed about our democracy."
"Our circumstances certainly have their own particular disabilities: a radicalization of conservative politics, over-the-top mistrust of President Obama on the right, high-tech gerrymandering in the House and a Senate snarled by non-constitutional super-majority requirements."
In the U.S. the trouble is Congressional gridlock. E.J. wonders if are system of government is conducive to democracy.
"We know American politics are dysfunctional. But after a week of scandal obsessionduring which the nation’s capital and the media virtually ignored the problems most voters care about — jobs, incomes, growth, opportunity, education — it’s worth asking if there is something especially flawed about our democracy."
"Our circumstances certainly have their own particular disabilities: a radicalization of conservative politics, over-the-top mistrust of President Obama on the right, high-tech gerrymandering in the House and a Senate snarled by non-constitutional super-majority requirements."
The trouble in Europe is that the democratic process has been eclipsed by Eurocrats in Brussels. Economically, we handled are crisis-though are handling of it was far from optimum. Now we have the scandal mongering knocking real problems to the back pages. Yesterday Greg Sargent was concerned about the coverage of the IRS scandal. He felt that there was too much time spent on the unimportant question of what Obama knew and when he knew it-or when this or that person in the Treasury Department or the White House knew it.
I fear that the title of Sargent's piece Separating What Matters From What Doesn't in the Scandal Coverage misses the point. This presumes that the media really is making a good faith effort to figure out what really happened and to help us find a real solution. That's not what this is about at all. Unfortunately I can't see any basis to believe in the good faith of the press here much more than the GOP itself.
The press is basically following the GOP's lead here and it's concern is how close they can put this thing to Obama, If you think there are any other questions of interest for the GOP beyond what will benefit the party politically, you're dreaming. There was another terrible Politico piece that did nothing but ruminate and wallow in this miserable waste of national time.
Among other thins it savages Lois Lerner for they way she revealed this-through a planted question. I don't know if that was the best way to do it either, but I'm must so sick of the demonization. They're going to have her as the worst person since Jeffrey Dahmer soon. She's obviously a dedicated civil servant trying to do her best. However, there's a desire to see heads roll. Scapegoats are needed.
On the question of What did Obama know and when did he know it?!! Steve Benen rightly points out that this question has been blown way out of proportion to its importance. In fact, what we know suggests that the system worked. The IRS did what it was supposed to do, the Inspector General did what he was supposed to do. There's this absurd spin that Obama somehow "failed to lead" in this. Yet, we don't want the President leading the IRS on a day to day basis and it's good that he hasn't been directly involved. If he had been that would be criticized too, anyway.
With friends like these who needs enemies? Do you notice the truth of what Eric Clapton said in that song of his Nobody knows you when you're down and out? Even Obama's supposed friends seem to want to kick him in the teeth. Listen to Lanny Davis, a former special counsel to President Bill Clinton who guided the administration through a series of second-term campaign finance scandals.
"Davis said the White House still has a chance to get in front of the story by responding in an even-handed way to all congressional scrutiny, including searching its email servers for any messages between Washington and Obama’s reelection campaign. “God willing,” Davis said, there will be no messages.
That is actually awful advice. If the Administration follows this they will be playing the impossible game of trying to prove a negative. Are we now supposed to have Darrell Issa trolling through every White House email over the last 3 years to make sure there's no reference to the IRS scandal and if there is shout to the Heavens? It seems that this is what Davis is suggesting. Is this the kind of advice he gave Clinton in the 90s?
Among other thins it savages Lois Lerner for they way she revealed this-through a planted question. I don't know if that was the best way to do it either, but I'm must so sick of the demonization. They're going to have her as the worst person since Jeffrey Dahmer soon. She's obviously a dedicated civil servant trying to do her best. However, there's a desire to see heads roll. Scapegoats are needed.
On the question of What did Obama know and when did he know it?!! Steve Benen rightly points out that this question has been blown way out of proportion to its importance. In fact, what we know suggests that the system worked. The IRS did what it was supposed to do, the Inspector General did what he was supposed to do. There's this absurd spin that Obama somehow "failed to lead" in this. Yet, we don't want the President leading the IRS on a day to day basis and it's good that he hasn't been directly involved. If he had been that would be criticized too, anyway.
With friends like these who needs enemies? Do you notice the truth of what Eric Clapton said in that song of his Nobody knows you when you're down and out? Even Obama's supposed friends seem to want to kick him in the teeth. Listen to Lanny Davis, a former special counsel to President Bill Clinton who guided the administration through a series of second-term campaign finance scandals.
"Davis said the White House still has a chance to get in front of the story by responding in an even-handed way to all congressional scrutiny, including searching its email servers for any messages between Washington and Obama’s reelection campaign. “God willing,” Davis said, there will be no messages.
“The White House needs to be forthcoming with emails to dispute any inference they were knowledgeable,” he said.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/05/irs-how-not-to-handle-a-scandal-91647.html#ixzz2TwH965XO
At the end of the day this is a silly question. Nobody seems to remember that Darrell Issa himself received notice from the IG last year. Why is the fact that he knew not a scandal?
"So, about a year ago, in response to complaints, the IRS decided to investigate the process through which groups applied for tax-exempt status. In July 2012, the agency's Inspector General got to work, initiating an investigation. The IG's office did its due diligence, without interference from the White House or anyone else, and wrapped up its audit last month."
"At that point, a variety of top officials, including senior folks at the White House, were made aware of the broad outlines of the IG's findings, which apparently is pretty routine -- IG offices in other agencies alert the White House to the release of upcoming reports, too."
"I'm not altogether sure why this is important, or even interesting. When it comes to potential areas of political controversy, there are a series of obvious questions: did the White House interfere with the IG investigation? Did the White House publicly comment on the IG investigation in order to influence its outcome? Was there any reason to notify the White House of the probe earlier?"
"As best as I can tell, the answer to all of these questions, at least given the available information, is "no." So, I'm left to wonder once more why this is a major development."
It's a major development because the GOP is in another political fishing expedition where the facts don't matter. By the way, all this hue and cry ignores how the Inspector General (IG) actually operates.
"In light of news that White House advisers knew weeks ago that the IRS inspector general’s report was coming, but didn’t tell Obama, this piece by a former inspector general is a much needed reality check on how this stuff actually works:
In those rare cases when information about the audit or investigation goes beyond the agency in the executive branch, it would be unprecedented in my experience for anyone outside the agency to become involved in the customary back and forth between the IG and the agency, much less to intervene with the IG before his work is complete.
"Imagine the outcry if the White House had said something publicly about the report before it was completed! It’s a bit surprising to see normally savvy Beltway folks pretending this latest round of news is somehow a big deal."
Recall what Upton Sinclair said about a man having a hard time understanding something when it's his job not to understand it.
I agree we're a dysfunctional democracy but our Beltway media is highly complicit in this fact.
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