Washington Is Broken

Back in 2008 Obama brought up the issue of “Washington being broken” due to institutional gridlock, abuse of the filibuster and hyper-partisanship plaguing US politics, it’s not hard to see why Congressional approval levels are below 15%.

Is Washington broken? – ABC Planet America in June 2012 Scott Adler, political scientist at the University of Colorado and author speaks on the issue.

In addition, here is the CNN interview of Obama in 2008:

Political science professor and Centre guest Scott Adler talks to John Barron about how this stalemate can be resolved, if at all.

Further, governors even seem to agree saying:

The anxiety is bipartisan in scope, with deep worries about sequestration and ‘taxmageddon,’ the shorthand for federal spending cuts and tax increases scheduled to automatically go into effect at the end of the year.

There’s confusion about what federal education standards will look like when Congress finally reauthorizes No Child Left Behind and hesitation about whether to expand Medicaid — one of the biggest expenses in every state’s budget — in the wake of the Supreme Court’s health care decision that gives governors the choice. Farm state governors worry about how the final ag bill will look when it’s finished.

Then there’s everyone’s other fear: that the fragile economy will slip back into recession.

The level of “uncertainty” — a word that came up repeatedly during interviews with 13 chief executives at the summer meeting of the National Governors Association — has left the governors with a sense of impotence, derived from their frustration that so much is beyond their control right now.

The dominant outlook, rarely mentioned on the record, is that neither party will be able to fix D.C. after November, at least not for the foreseeable future.

Source:  Politico

And the North Koreans agree that they are part of the problem:

The point they missed?  They a part of the problem, not part of the solution.

CNN Reported in 2011

Ruben Navarette and David Gergen discuss what will it take to get lawmakers in Washington ot work together on Sept. 29, 2011.

Ddi we get the government we deserve?