CONGRESS CONTINUES TO RECEIVE LOW MARKS

By H. N. Burdett

Shortly before the House of Representatives voted last Sunday to approve overhaul of the nation's health care system, the Pew Research Center asked Americans to offer one word that they would use to best describe Congress. The results were enough to make lawmakers with the thickest skin cringe, if not race for cover.

Of the 749 respondents, 86 percent came up with something uncomplimentary, to say the least, ranging from "dysfunctional" to "terrible," with "incompetent," "lazy," "ineffective" and "idiotic" falling somewhere in between. A mere 4 percent had a positive word for their federal legislators.

The three most frequently provided terms were "dysfunctional," by 21 persons; "corrupt," by 20, and some version of "selfish," such as "self-serving," and "self-centered," by 19.

Fifteen respondents offered "confused," "confusing" or "confusion," the same number that came up with "incompetent" Yet another 15 said Congress was simply "inefffective. "

Just plain "bad" and "suck(s)" were each offered by 14 people.

Eleven felt Congress was either "crooked" or comprised of "crooks." The one word choice of another 11 was "disappointed" or "disappointing," the same number that said "gridlock" or "deadlock."

Our national lawmaking body was seen as "idiotic" or made up of "idiots" by 10 individuals, and another 10 offered the ever more polite "slow."

Nine of those surveyed contended that Congress was eithr a "mess," "messed up" or "messy." And eight replied that the word to best characterize their federal lawmakers is "lousy." An additional nine respondents opted for "terrible."

While Americans look upon the U.S. Congress, as Churchill once said he regarded a political opponent, "with minimal high esteem," it seems puzzling that incumbency is still considered a political advantage. But the rub is that the majority of us voters obviously feel the individual we choose to represent us is just fine; it's all thse other voters who are "messing up" by sending all those "lousy," "dysfunctional," "messed up" politicians to represent them Washington.

It will be interesting to learn what the surveys tell us about the public perception of our national lawmakers since they enacted the health care bill, which has been characterized by ome as the most important social legislation since Social Security in 1935 and Medicare in 1965, and by others as the one-way, nonstop ticket to bottomless perdition. The early returns appear to be anything but promising.

Fox News, which took its survey on March 16 and 17, the two days immediately after the House passed the Senate health care reform bill, showed that only 18 percent of its respondents approved of Congress' overall performance, while 76 percent disapproved. Our representatives in the nation's capital actually fared slightly worse than that in the CBS/New York Times survey, taken March 18 through 21, with only 14 percent approving and 76 disapproving.

Those numbers would indicate that Republican members of the House, who voted unanimously against health care reform, had it right when they said the American people do not want this legislation.

But Democrats counter that the big bucks the insurance industry put into negative and misleading advertising, to say nothing of the contributions that will pour into GOP congressional campaigns as the quid pro quo for their votes, has once again led Americans to take positions that are in reality against their own best interests.

With conservative members of the Supreme Court -- those lifetime appointees who tell us with a straight face that it is an abomination to legislate through the courts and then solemnly declare that political contribuitions are tantamount to free speech and deserving of the same respect -- poised to support every whim and fancy of the right wing of Congress, President Obama's health reform legislation conceivably could be enjoying a victory of limited duration.

The punditocracy is nearly unanimous in its current belief that Republicans are going to do at very least well and perhaps extremely well in the next midterm national election. Some of these architects of conventional wisdom are convinced that the GOP could win back both Houses: a truly perplexing reward for the party best known for digging in its heels and doing nothing.

For virtually the same electorate that voted overwhelmingly for change in 2008 to now vote for the status quo seems to be the ultimate bizarre political behavior. Then again, there are more than seven months before Americans go to the polls. Even in this cyberspace age when so much of everything moves so fast, in politics that amount of time can seem like a lifetime.

Meanwhile, there are hot button issues that have been crying for congressional attention, ranging from rules and regulations for financial institution to immigration reform. The Democrats know that their majorities in both the House and the Senate could be reversed may try to move everything, or at least as much as they can, onto the floors of their respective chambers before the November election.

Will Republicans actually strive for an impregnable defense of deregulation and proclaim that any attempt to tie or cleanse Wall Street's soiled hands will be a frontal assault on capitalism, the very underpinnings of the tried and true American way of life? You can take it to the bank. Can they succeed in the daring high wire act of both taking a hard line against immigration reform while bending over backwards to woo the rapidly growing Latino vote? That one is a little more problematic and may remain where it has been: on the farthest back burner -- a hot potato that neither party appears to have the courage to touch.

It has long been said that those who love sausage and the law should not watch either being made. But the battles that the "dysfunctional," "corrupt" and "selfish" United States Congress confronts or avoids between now and November could play out with more suspense and drama than any soap opera script yet written.