In a Gallup poll approximately one week ago, Lydia Saad and Joseph Carroll determined that 58% of Americans think the two parties are doing such a poor job that we need a third one. Only 33% think the two parties are just fine.
Our Doug Bailey did some research and found that five years ago, Gallup found just the opposite: 56% were satisfied with the performance of the two parties and only 40% felt a third party was needed.
So, what happened?"
The following commentary was written as an answer to that question by Mr. Bailey:
It’s not just Iraq. It’s how the Republican and Democratic leaders in Washington are so certain that they are right that they refuse to seek common ground – or so bent on winning an election that losing lives seems secondary.
It may be hard to know who the enemy is in Baghdad, but in Washington the enemy is anyone in the opposite party.
The Bush White House will not yield – not even to accept a genuinely bipartisan Iraq Study Group report, from a panel that included two former GOP Secretaries of State and their own new Secretary of Defense.
The Democrats in Congress are just as adamant. They reject anything without a timetable for withdrawal. They refuse to support or even talk about anything that Republican moderates, seeking the middle, propose. They filibuster all night, but won’t spend any time at all to seek quiet agreement behind closed doors.
Both sides are wrong – and the people know it. We need to forget how we got there and whose fault it is. We must figure out how to preserve our security and give millions of innocent people in Iraq a chance to avoid a bloodbath. It’s complex, but complex issues are why we have leaders.
Iraq is hardly the only issue without the kind of bipartisan agreement that has accompanied every sustainable domestic or foreign policy initiative for the last 50 years. We are facing many crucial issues right now, including energy dependence, education in inner city schools, a broken health care system, global climate change, immigration, the deficit, and the coming entitlement mess. These issues are all huge, all tough, and all complex.
I urge Congress to sit down and talk to each other. End the gotcha game. The stakes are too high! If you can’t lead, then Unity08 will find someone who can.
What are your thoughts?
Tags: Unity08, election, president, government, bipartisan, politics, news and politics, gallup, doug bailey
