For the next grading period I will be following Clarence Page, a columnist for the Chicago Tribune.
Mr. Page writes this week about a failed attempt to end the Congressional stalemate on budget cuts and taxes. He begins with a snide remark about the congressional supercommittee and then contrasts today's Congress against the compromises the covert groups of senators used to make in the '20s - capitalizing the current lack of governmental decision-making. Though the twelve-person Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, or the "supercommittee," was equally manned by the two houses and parties of Congresss, Page explains because it had partisans instead of independent decision-makers, "it was doomed from the start."
The failure of the supercommittee started a blame game with each party blaming the other, and in particular the Republicans criticizing Obama's "lack of 'leadership.'" Page then explains that Obama's months-old proposal of a mix of cuts and taxes is generally the most supported by the polls (compared to the Republican plan of all cuts and no taxes); he references Grover Norquist, an activist in support of the Republicans, who Democratic supercommittee member Senator John Kerry cites as the "'13th member of this committee without being there.'" Norquist is threatening Republicans who try to side with the Democrats with attempts at unseating - he is a prime example of the refusal to compromise that prompted Page's article in the first place.
Succinctly Page finishes with a sarcastic announcement of his - and the voters' - belief in Obama's idea.
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