This was written before the Syria-Congressional-Approval decision. Unlikely to make the problem they identify any better. I listened to the book and it covered all of the things you might expect. It did not seem to acknowledge that those who are obstructing believe they are getting something done. Our fantasy: A Congress that gets stuff done By Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein, Published: August 29 Thomas E. Mann, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and Norman J. Ornstein, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, are the authors of “It’s Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism.” In our book, we lamented the ideological divides in Washington, which had become almost tribal in nature, and the skewed nature of political polarization, emphasizing a Republican Party gone off the rails. Unfortunately, little has happened in the time since to lift our spirits. But we can always fantasize, right? The challenges are daunting and then there are the self-inflicted wounds. We want to be optimistic, we really do. Our fantasy would have had some chance in the reality of the 1970s, 1980s or 1990s — all eras with plenty of dysfunction and partisan polarization. Even today, we could name 75 senators who, under the right circumstances, would support the kind of package we outline. But the rampant tribalism and deep dysfunction we wrote about a year ago have not abated after the 2012 election. If anything, they have grown. American politics is not just worse than it looks. It’s even worse than we thought. washingtonpost/opinions/our-fantasy-a-congress-that-gets-stuff-done/2013/08/29/e9829dde-0b54-11e3-b87c-476db8ac34cd_print.html
Posted on: Tue, 03 Sep 2013 15:45:31 +0000
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