The numbers said it all.
The New York Times/CBS News poll showed that 75 percent of respondents disapproved of the job Congress was doing. Only 8 percent agreed that members of Congress should be re-elected.
While those numbers will not be predictive of the fall congressional elections, there continue to be warning signs that the American people remain displeased with their national leaders even after turning control of the White House and Congress over to the Democrats. The rearranging of the chairs in Washington did not address the deeper issues that confront Americans, and once more politicians, who ran as change agents, have so far failed to meet the expectations.
No politician or political party should feel comfortable with the poll numbers. Even though the Democrats hold the executive and legislative levers of government, the Republicans have done little to lay out alternatives to the Democratic approaches. The country may have reached a point where being opposed is not enough — where being the loyal opposition means offering a counterproposal to initiatives being pushed by the party in power. A no vote at every turn may be interpreted as obstructionist.
In retrospect, a massive overhaul of the health care system may not have been the best choice to frame the first year of the Obama administration. A large amount of time and political capital was spent, only to fall by the wayside after a single U.S. Senate seat in Massachusetts went from the Democratic column to the Republicans.