2008 Woodie Awards
Pelosi, Reid lack leadership skills in Congress
Aanston Frazier
Issue date: 10/31/07 Section: Editorials
- Page 1 of 1
Recent articles this week have highlighted the growing resentment toward Congress not only from Republicans, as expected, but also from Democrats.
While Democrats regained control last year, promising to provide new and more effective leadership, the results have been far less than satisfactory. Recent polls show Congressional approval ratings at a dismal 25 percent, with 60 percent disapproval. A lack of leadership is certainly one of the reasons for this.
This Congressional session has been marked with a staggering low number of bills passed into law. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid have shown themselves to be completely inept in their leadership. Politics is about compromise and getting results, both of which these two have failed miserably at.
It's certainly nice to make statements about laws one hopes to pass, but without results this is meaningless. Both Pelosi and Reid seemed to have forgotten Republicans still have influence in Congress and through the White House. Without some bipartisan support, bills simply won't become law.
The recent fight over the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) provides a perfect example. Democrats rammed this bill through Congress stating how it would help children. During the entire process it seemed they forgot to look for Republican support. There were Republicans that expressed interest in the bill, with even the conservative Heritage Foundation offering ways this bill could be acceptable to conservatives and still meet the Democrats' overall goals.
Yet Pelosi and Reid ignored this, instead focusing on just what their supporters wanted. When the bill was eventually vetoed by President Bush, they were outraged. That is not leadership. If these two actually had any competence, they would have immediately looked toward Republicans for compromises that would allow the bill to be passed.
Leadership in Congress requires one to not simply frame debates as one party versus another. In many cases those tactics lead to failure. Leadership requires finding common ground and then using that to gain support for issues, even if those are predominantly in one party or the other.
No matter what party is in control of Congress, leadership is required if one actually wants to have results. So far both Pelosi and Reid have shown they simply lack this ability. While they both may have shown they are good politicians, they simply lack what is required for their respective positions.
- Aanston Frazier, a former Marine Corps intelligence analyst, is a junior economics and political science major and a Mirror columnist.
While Democrats regained control last year, promising to provide new and more effective leadership, the results have been far less than satisfactory. Recent polls show Congressional approval ratings at a dismal 25 percent, with 60 percent disapproval. A lack of leadership is certainly one of the reasons for this.
This Congressional session has been marked with a staggering low number of bills passed into law. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid have shown themselves to be completely inept in their leadership. Politics is about compromise and getting results, both of which these two have failed miserably at.
It's certainly nice to make statements about laws one hopes to pass, but without results this is meaningless. Both Pelosi and Reid seemed to have forgotten Republicans still have influence in Congress and through the White House. Without some bipartisan support, bills simply won't become law.
The recent fight over the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) provides a perfect example. Democrats rammed this bill through Congress stating how it would help children. During the entire process it seemed they forgot to look for Republican support. There were Republicans that expressed interest in the bill, with even the conservative Heritage Foundation offering ways this bill could be acceptable to conservatives and still meet the Democrats' overall goals.
Yet Pelosi and Reid ignored this, instead focusing on just what their supporters wanted. When the bill was eventually vetoed by President Bush, they were outraged. That is not leadership. If these two actually had any competence, they would have immediately looked toward Republicans for compromises that would allow the bill to be passed.
Leadership in Congress requires one to not simply frame debates as one party versus another. In many cases those tactics lead to failure. Leadership requires finding common ground and then using that to gain support for issues, even if those are predominantly in one party or the other.
No matter what party is in control of Congress, leadership is required if one actually wants to have results. So far both Pelosi and Reid have shown they simply lack this ability. While they both may have shown they are good politicians, they simply lack what is required for their respective positions.
- Aanston Frazier, a former Marine Corps intelligence analyst, is a junior economics and political science major and a Mirror columnist.
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