Does the President really matter? Not so much!

The ongoing nonsense with the 2011 Federal budget has Common Sense wondering: does the President really matter?  Common Sense thinks "not so much!"   Consider what we all just saw.

Round 1 back in 2010 when Congress was supposed to pass a budget.  Remember back then when the Democrats controlled both the House and Senate.  President Obama proposed a budget.  It didn't get passed.  Among the reasons was that then House Speaker Ms. Pelosi couldn't get the Democratic House to agree.  Of course getting the Democrats, or as we have recently learned the Republicans, to agree is rather like herding cats.  But, hey, what do you expect when you don't elect adults to Congress.  The point is that President Obama didn't really matter.  The House Speaker couldn't get her own caucus to agree to a budget!

Spin forward a bit.  Now we have a Republican House with a radical right committed to both less spending and extreme right cultural ideology.  In this case Mr. Boehner couldn't get his caucus to agree.  So we still don't have a budget for the current fiscal year.  In this most recent round there was a very private, that is to say the American public who has to live with the result doesn't get to know what transpired, negotiation between House Speaker Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.  While it's true that President Obama had a voice, when it came right down to it the Congress lead by the Speaker and Majority Leader had to act BEFORE President Obama even mattered!

That's Common Sense's point.  While the President has considerable power in some areas when it comes to legislation he is virtually impotent!  It's Congress that passes legislation!  Without a Congress willing to act in the interest of the American people the President doesn't matter very much!

In recent years Presidents used to have rather more influence on Congress.  Likewise, Congressional leaders could actually lead.  But today things have changed.  Today we have undisciplined political parties,  particularly on the right.  We have representatives that are not especially interested in good governance for the American people but in cultural ideology.

In Common Sense's view, Congress is badly broken and congressional reform long overdue.  It's time we focused less on who's President and more, much more, on who we elect to Congress.  It's time we stopped voting for cultural and ideological demagogues and started electing common sense adults interested in the good of the American public!