Breaking Through Gridlock In Washington

Can "A House Divided Against Itself" Still Stand? Or Does Partisanship Predict Failure?

(CBS)  For a long time now it seems as if gridlock has long been the order of the day in Washington, so when the fierce battle in Congress over the financial bailout finally ended with approval by both Houses this past week, we couldn't help but wonder what scars would be left. Martha Teichner reports our Cover Story:

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The word was actually uttered in the halls of Congress this week: "Bi-partisan."

Majority Leader Steney Hoyer, D-Md., said, "An emergency like this calls for the courage to compromise."

"Compromise!" When was the last time you heard that word from a congressman?

Rep. Chris Shays, R-Conn., said, "The crisis requires all of us to put our country first and our ideology and partisanship aside."

Along the way to finally passing the bailout on Friday, members of the House of Representatives managed something uncharacteristic: they actually did come together.

The final vote was announced … but getting there was an exercise in political agony.

Democrat James McGovern of Massachusetts had it just about right: "It's hard to get anything done around here with a divided government."

According to a CBS News poll released this past week, only 15% of Americans approve of how Congress is handling its job. That's the lowest rating ever recorded, since CBS News started asking the question … more than thirty years ago.

The public's perception of its lawmakers being unable to get the country's business done is "business as usual."

"They have fought to a standstill on pretty much every major problem: energy, education, immigration, children's health," said journalist Ron Brownstein.

Brownstein's most recent book, "The Second Civil War: How Extreme Partisanship Has Paralyzed Washington and Polarized America" (Penguin), explains how Washington ended up paralyzed by partisanship.

"If you look at polling in the 1950s, there were a lot of reasons why people might be a Democrat or a Republican, but a specific set of ideological beliefs was not really part of it," he told Teichner.

"Now you go through the '60s and '70s with the social revolution, the cultural revolution, Vietnam, civil rights, gun rights, gay rights, abortion, all those issues rise, and we see a migration of moderate and liberal voters out of the Republican Party, and a migration, even larger migration of conservative voters out of the Democratic Party."

"What happened is, we lost the political center," said former Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind. "Extremists in both parties have risen to the ascendancy. Congressional districts have become overwhelmingly Democratic or overwhelmingly Republican."

"By design?" Teichner asked.

"By design, by conspiracy really, between the elected representatives, members of Congress and the state legislatures."

For example, do California's congressional districts seem peculiarly shaped? Or Georgia's? There's a reason they've been carefully drawn - gerrymandered. The practice tends to protect incumbents who might have strong partisan or even extremist views.

In the entire House of Representatives, only 57 out of the 435 total seats are considered competitive in November.

But there's more to the gridlock story …

"More lobbyists, more money, evenly-divided country, more pressure, more media attention - all of which has racheted up the pressure in American politics," said Hamilton.

Elected in 1964, Lee Hamilton served in the House for 34 years.

"When I came to the Congress, we had an agricultural bill," he recalled. "We'd deal with three or four lobbying groups. Today, the agricultural bill will deal with 30 or 40 or 50 lobbying groups, much more involvement, and very intense involvement, and very strong pressure on the members."

Here's pressure: The financial, real estate, and insurance industries - those people who brought us the economic meltdown (and who stand to benefit from the bailout) - so far this year have contributed $339.6 million to party politics, supporting both Republicans' and Democrats' campaigns.

"The founding fathers didn't really expect there to be political parties," said Columbia University provost Alan Brinkley, "and they thought that governance would proceed through consensus. But it didn't take long for political parties to emerge."

A professor of history, Brinkley says gridlock characterizes the way Congress acts more often than not in its history.

"Probably the most important example of gridlock was the period leading up to the Civil War. There was absolute gridlock over the critical issue of the tensions between the North and the South, and the issue of slavery, and of course in that case the Union broke apart."

In May 1856, infuriated by a speech made by Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner opposing slavery, South Carolina Representative Preston Brooks took his cane and beat Sumner unconscious.

Another catastrophic case of political gridlock came after the stock market crash of 1929, as the Great Depression deepened.

"The real moment of crisis, however, came in late 1932, early 1933, when the banking system began to collapse," said Brinkley. "This was after Roosevelt had been elected but before he was inaugurated."

Republican President Herbert Hoover, discredited, a lame duck, seemed incapable of acting. He pleaded with Roosevelt for a show of bi-partisan support. Roosevelt refused.

"Roosevelt's election broke the gridlock, and there were enormous Democratic majorities in Congress, and they were so panicked by what was happening, that they were willing to cede almost anything to the president."

In 1995, armed with a huge Republican majority, House Speaker Newt Gingrich found his name synonymous with gridlock.

He shut down the federal government in a confrontation with the Clinton administration over budget cutting.

The ideological fault lines that were drawn then lead directly to Republican Tom Delay's farewell address, when he resigned his House seat in 2006: "You show me a nation without partisanship, and I'll show you a tyranny."

An unapologetic endorsement of what has been called hyperpartisanship.

"Because partisanship, Mr. Speaker, properly understood, is not a symptom of a democracy's weakness," Delay said, "but of its health and its strength, esepcially from the perspective of a political conservative."

Hamilton, on the other hand, thinks exploiting division is no way to run the country.

"So the question becomes, how do you make that kind of a country work?" he said. "And the answer has to be accommodation and compromise, or you get gridlock."

Ron Brownstein said, "I think ultimately the president sets the tone for our politics."

Brownstein thinks the tone set during the Bush years only exacerbated the divide.

"It doesn't mean that when he leaves the next president will simply be able to bring everybody together," Brownstein said. "It will be a struggle for any leader."

A month before the election, both John McCain and Barack Obama seem to want to try.

"Whichever one wins will have the opportunity, if they're willing, to try to reach beyond their base and be president of the whole country and speak to all Americans," said Brownstein.

… Americans who seem ready for reassurance, not rancor.

[geekstrap]

This without a doubt is the first "real" news story I believe hits the mark dead center of the "real" issue that faces our nation.
I don''t believe we are electing a person for president but a party. We are forced intentionally by the political parties to have this choice instead of the real desire of the people, and that is to choose a leader of the people. A President! I don''t know the answers needed to fix the problems but our current course is failing due to party politics. We the people need to stand up and lead.
Thank Martha and those who made this news story for hitting the mark! If we only listen and knew what to do in order to fix the problem.

[mijomar-2009]

1. Eliminate lobbiest campaign funding as regards our election processes.
2. Put together a bipartisian committee together to evaluate all bills, proir to voting by the house and senate....They will weed out the surpurfilous add ons.
3. Someone needs to reevaluate the Dept of Agriculture''s budget, along with all the hidden pannels and ''good ole boys phantom committees''..and slash thier budget accordingly.
4. Take care of Americas business from a bipartisian management system...lets do it right from now on.
5. Deport foreign fellons from our prisons, deport illegal aliens and grossly limit foreign visas, tighten up the visa system, require fingerprints, dna samples and activity oversight of all temporary visa holders. Dont let them get lost in the system.
6. Take a lawyers and Dr.s license if they''re caught in a illegal or breach of oath offense...period. Set an example. Especially where it comes to a defense attorney lying to a court in interest of thier client..especially when they know the client is guilty...they''re there to protect the guilty party''s rights with respect to a fair trial...but not like the O.J. Simpson circus..anyone that has had a pair of leather gloves, knows the shrink after getting wet..but can be stretched out again...

[txgrouch2006]

OUR GOVERNMENT IS OUR ENEMY

The only time they reach bipartisan agreement is when they''re agreeing to WRECK THE NATION.

VOTE THEM ALL OUT.

[jesusface]

Bipartisan bailout
Sixty five percent (65%) of the representatives who voted yes to the bailout were Democrats and sixty three percent (63%) who voted no were Republicans.
What a weird outcome especially that President Bush, who is the instigator of the bailout, is a Republican.
I hope the democrats have a %u201CPlan B%u201D in case the fragile ship starts to sink in stormy waters%u2026

[eroosevelt08]

It is interesting that the McCalin-Palin ticket is trying to smear Barack Obama now. I do recall that it was Senator McCain who came back from being a POW and dumped his crippled wife Carol, who had been a model before her horrible 1969 car accident. While stationed in Florida in 1976 he had extramarital affairs. He met Cindy McCain in April of 1979. He filed for divorce in January of 1980 and married Cindy McCain in May of 1980. Carol and John McCain had been good friends with Nancy and Ronald Reagan, which friendship cooled when they learned about Cindy. Read McCain''''s biography. It is all there on Wikipedia.

[generey]

This will be the first of a few years of voting in which the voters will define themselves. IF the incumbents are not voted out then the voters have no one to blame but themselves. We will see.

[luvcomments]

What has brought - and will continue to bring - failure to this country is an utterly blatant lack of ethics. If both parties were comprised of truly ethical people working their very best for all of us, instead of being hell-bent on being bought and paid for to pass disgusting bills that rip off the people, for their own greed, gain and power - as well as on behalf of their crony contractors et al, we would never have been dumped in this horrifying mess, including Iraq. Since these bozos are human and cannot be trusted, they need to be regulated, all of them, by a group of regular citizens...... most of whom have more commonsense than any of these educated idiots feeding their greed frenzy like maggots on a gut-wagon.

[samthetvcat]

---"The public''s perception of its lawmakers being unable to get the country''s business done is "business as usual."---
_______

That''s just the beginning of it - it''s also:

1. The disproportionate influence of lobbyists of for-profit corporations (corporations DON''T have the same level of 1A rights as individuals)

2. Resorting to ''sweeteners'' rather than focus on policy to craft bills that people sign on the merits

3. Acting like campaigning and their stock portfolios count more than constituents

4. Taking the day off on the Jewish New Year when they''re not Jewish in the middle of a national crisis

5. Being in the top 5% of income earners when they''re supposed to be representing the average American

6. Oh yeah, there''s also not reading the NIE before they vote to go to war, not seeing when a President is lying and fearmongering, not seeing when a treasury secretary has a conflict of interest and is fearmongering, then calling people who raise doubt ''unpatriotic'' - yes, that was Congress who was likening support for the bailout to patriotism.

I could go on . . .

[jab232]

Nasty campaigning leads to ineffective presidential leadership. Swiftboat lies lead to lies about WMD''s. The nastier the campaign, the less qualified the candidate. When the so-called bailout came up, almost no one believed what George Bush said about it. He had told too many lies clear back to the campaign itself. We desperately need a president who tells the truth in the campaign and in office. That''s the only thing which will restore the credibility of the office itself.

[Haug_Dude]

There are only small differences between America%u2019s "official" political parties. "Other" political brands are marginalized by the Washington money machine. Good ideas are plagiarized into platforms of the Oily-Phants and Jack-Arses who claim to represent "us". Well have you ever tried to contact your "elected representative?" Prepare for a surprise. You may be treated like a disease needing quick treatment. But, donate lots of campaign money = plenty access. Look at our priorities -- big bailouts for Wall Streets'' crack-party and $-trillions for an oil war making us LESS secure, versus bupkiss for education, social security, roads and bridges (to nowhere?), renewable energy and fixing global warming.

Americans seem increasingly managed by their own crises; greedy and self-centered; unable to comprehend that big-business, Washington, and State government does not give a big rat-butt about them. Many joined in the recent debt exploding greed-party. But there will be no reward for us who went on with honest middle-class lives, now quickly eroding away. The wealthy (both sides of Aisle) care most about dividend checks, Maui vacations, offshore accounts, and permanent tax breaks. That leaves about 40 million of us paying the tab for 20 years%u2019 excesses. Perhaps the current jolt of financial sobriety combined with evidence we are killing the Earth''s environment will be the wake up call we all need.

[ccarlson43]

A lot of the big companies played hard, fast and loose with their money. They took in probably billions on down payments. They gave the Average Joes mortgages that they knew, with any sense of economics or any business/ethics, they had to know they would fail.The government is now bailing them out. They did it for us, the little people? Bear in mind that us, the little people, make a tenth or less than what they make. The company I work for fails I''m out of luck.But they are going to save these companies that did these questionable things that are costing peoples their homes and lives. Why? Are there not like millions of smaller companies that could step up and assist making good for the American public. This would bring in new growth in the American economy and the companies that did these questionable things would just no longer exist and we would not have to fear that they are going to do it again.A little tough love.Did you hear Warren Buffet on Charlie Rose, giggling through telling everybody that it was time to buy stocks because they were all so low.The real working class man has to consider the cost before the nutritional benefits of the food that he is buying. We are not giggling. The real working class man/woman/child is not hungry but are nutritionally starved because Ramen noodles at $0.10 per package are what they can afford.

[petro49l]

Congress passed a financial bail-out that benefits Saudi Banks. Most Members of Congress were bribed by OPEC to support a high price for oil. George W. Bush threatened war against Russia, Iran, and Pakistan to justify the high price for gasoline. The Saudis have effectively taken over the United States by spending their oil profits on cheap, crooked Politicians in Washington D.C. Osama Bin Laden is perfectly safe.

[smurfcrusher]

StormeyTexan said: "Republicans have been putting party before country for much too long.

It''s time we all remembered we''re Americans."

I disagree. The Republicans had all the cards for years, and shut down the Democrats every chance they could get.

Only now, once the Republicans are going to be drummed out of office for their abject failures, do they preach bipartisanship.
It''s only because they would otherwise be shut out completely!

Payback is a bltch.

[heyyour]

Sunday Morning
Martha Teichner and your editors got it wrong again. The ney vote on the first bail out was a bipartisan vote, clearly.

What does that say about Martha, your editor, your news, our news, our consensus?

[heyyour]

Sunday Morning
Martha Teichner and your editors got it wrong again. The ney vote on the first bail out was a bipartisan vote, clearly.

What does that say about Martha, your editor, your news, our news, our consensus?

[red_dtruck]

if congress goes back to a goverment of the people, not over the people there would`t be a gridlock. i watch congress debates on the bailout not once did i hear one say they was doing their job and voteing the way their constichents wanted.obama and mccain bought run to vote yes on the bail out of wallstreet.not to repercent the people.

[davidbthelen]

Most homeowners have at least 6-7 percent business expense when selling a home. That is where realtors will charge for each sale of a home. This is like having a tax. This eventually will bring down housing prices. In order to reduce the downward pressure on home prices, the unit business expense needs to be lowered for each sale of a home.
According to microeconomics, realtors need to lower the unit percentage costs to selling a home. This will actually increase sales of homes. This will increase net profits for realtors. Less time will be required for the sale of each home. Plus with all the new technology, homes could be advertised on less expensive media such as the paperless Internet.
Most people may not pay income tax; however many pay in other types of taxes. You have property taxes, sales tax, telecommunication (phone and cable) tax, tax on electricity, and gasoline tax just to name a few. When house values were increasing double digits the following took effect. The pure dollar amount of real estate fees to sell increased in pure dollar amount. Plus there was an increase in property taxes as well. These new higher expenses caused a direct drain on the upward housing prices. It was not sustainable.
We need to look at all the other taxes and pure expenses for selling and keeping a house. Otherwise, house prices may continue to fall without needed changes.

[heyyour]

Sunday Morning
Martha Teichner and your editors got it wrong again. The ney vote on the first bail out was a bipartisan vote, clearly.

Maybe voting for qualified people, not professional politicians, would be a novel and proactive change?

The professionals will tell you since the bail out is law their job is done. Martha Teichner also checked into that line. At last something is done. What has been done? There''s a story.

Do you have an editor? Or is your show more entertainment that news. Or how good is our news, really? Another institution, unpublisized fitting in to the latest consensus.

HeyYour

[heyyour]

Sunday Morning
Martha Teichner and your editors got it wrong again. The ney vote on the first bail out was a bipartisan vote, clearly.

Maybe voting for qualified people, not professional politicians, would be a novel and proactive change?

The professionals will tell you since the bail out is law their job is done. Martha Teichner also checked into that line. At last something is done. What has been done? There''s a story.

Do you have an editor? Or is your show more entertainment that news. Or how good is our news, really? Another institution, unpublisized fitting in to the latest consensus.

HeyYour

[niftynana]

StormeyTexan said: Republicans have been putting party before country for much too long.

It''''s time we all remembered we''''re Americans.





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I say Democrats AND Republicans are guilty of putting party before country. George Washington feared this more than 200 years ago. And I''d say he hit the nail on the head