Congressional Concerns

We discussed in a post earlier in the week the fact that the new Democratic Congress is now enduring popularity ratings far lower even than those of President Bush. In fact, as at least one Gallup Poll reported, Congress' approval may be as low as 14 percent.

As a result, as Reuters reports, the Democrats in charge of Congress are beginning to feel the pressure of actually governing. While they were in a minority, they were free to snipe at will, secure in the knowledge that there would be no consequences, as their minority status, coupled with their free propagandists in the mainsstream media would ensure that their message was spread to the American people without the necesssity of producing specifc plans for change. Unfortunately, elections do have consequences, and the Democratic victory in the 2006 mid-term elections has now forced the Democrats to try to come up with a trategy that will make their nutroots happy, whiloe sparing them the responsibility for a massive defeat in the war against Islamic Agression.

All of the pressure has Democrats worried. According to Reuters,

Experts attribute the woeful rankings to an inability to force a change in direction in Iraq, the priority Democrats campaigned on to gain power in both the House of Representatives and the Senate in last November's elections.

But that is not all. There has been little to show on other priorities, including a change in Social Security and other entitlement programs that will run out of money in the years ahead, in addition to overhauling a health care system that has left millions uninsured and a broken immigration policy.

"I think Americans were expecting a great deal from the new Congress, and Congress has always been held in low esteem, but Congress really hasn't delivered on what it promised, especially on Iraq," said Paul Light, a congressional expert who is a professor at New York University.

I think that ultimately, Democrats need to focus on delivering something to the American people, and forcing a defeat in Iraq may backfire on them, as polls consistently show that while Americans are tired of the war, they also still support achieving victory by a wide margin, and do not want a retreat or defeat. This places the Democrats in a tough position, and unless they can somehow deliver either a Republican scandal or a legislative victory, they may find that the same voters who turned against Republicans in the last election may turn on them in turn in the next one.