Change at a Cost

By Joe Conason
July 13, 2010
New York Observer

The headline for the latest poll says that public confidence in President Obama has sunk to a new low, with a majority of Americans saying they don't trust him to make the best policy choices, especially on the ailing economy. These same voters, surveyed by The Washington Post and ABC News, are even more disdainful of Congress, split almost evenly between Democrats and Republicans. Those numbers may portend a shift in partisan control of the House and a loss of Democratic seats in the Senate if citizens express their anger by punishing incumbents.

But the furious and frustrated electorate should be careful when they demand change in the upcoming midterm elections-because what they get may well be very different from what they actually want.

To understand why, let's look again at the findings of that poll. While that survey (and many others) show Americans deeply polarized over partisan preferences, the Obama presidency and other questions, there is broad agreement on at least one critical issue: extending unemployment benefits for the millions who have lost jobs and remain out of work. Fully 62 percent said that Congress should continue to extend benefits; only 36 percent said it should not, with 2 percent undecided. Most independents joined most Democrats in supporting extended benefits-and even 43 percent of Republicans agreed.

But when Republican Congressional and Senate candidates are asked that same question, their responses are negative-strangely and sometimes harshly out of touch with the current realities of American life.

(More here.)