Dan Balz's article in Saturday's Washington Post is a study in misconceptions. He writes about how Americans are upset with Washington because they are seeing gridlock and increasing partisanship blocking the ability of Washington to get things done.
American politics this year has been running on two divergent tracks. The first is intensified partisan combat in advance of a critical midterm election. The second is growing disaffection among many voters with a national capital seen as stalemated by polarization and distrust between the two political parties.
And he notes that the Joe Lieberman campaign against Ned Lamont will be interesting because Lieberman has promised to work for Americans by working across the aisle to get important things done. And if people are yearning for less partisanship, then Lieberman is your guy.
The Lieberman-Lamont primary became the latest stage for the politics of anger that has dominated since President Bush took office after the disputed election of 2000. Lieberman hopes to make the general election a template for civility in politics and a return to some measure of bipartisan cooperation in Washington.
What Balz doesn't understand is the anger felt by people outside of Washington isn't due to the fact that there is gridlock and partisanship. People are pissed off about what the Republicans are doing and they've been asking the Democrats to stop Bush from making things worse. Poll after poll shows that the public thinks that Bush and the Republicans have taken the country on the wrong track and that they've proven they are not to be trusted in governing our country. So what is it that Lieberman is promising to do? To help the Republicans continue to screw the American public? Why would anyone think that is a good idea?