The Framers gave us a West Coast offense

I’ve spent some time today looking over the CBS/New York Times poll and things aren’t looking all that good. I really like reading the detailed poll results. For those who don’t like it so much, here’s a summary. "Things are going the wrong direction and no one has both the ability and the willingness to do anything about it. We’ll do anything to help provided it doesn’t cost anything." There. I just saved you a bunch of time

If you don’t oppose public opinion surveys on principle, here are the results that interest me the most and might interest you. The New York Times provides a hyperlink to the full survey.

Q. Can Congress handle the challenge A. Are you kidding?

Do you approve of the way Congress is handling its job?
Approve 19%, Disapprove 70%

Do you think “most members of Congress” have done a good enough job to deserve re-election or do you think it’s time to give new people a chance?
Deserve 14%. New People 73%
Note: “most members of Congress” will be returned to office as usual.

Q. How about Barack Obama? Nice guy but isn’t up to the challenge.

Plan for creating Jobs, No 55% to Yes 35%
Plan for new energy No 39% to Yes 48%
Plan for oil spill No 64% to Yes 30%
Good job as Pres. Yes 47% to No 43%
Note: Approval rating were in the 60s until June ‘09, in the 50s until January ’10 and in the 40s, with two bumps up into the 50s, since February ’10.

Is Barack Obama a good guy
Qualities of Leadership Yes 62% to No 35%
Cares about people like me Yes 68% to No 31%
Note: I got those by combining cares a lot with cares some and combining not much with not at all. You might say 68% to 31% isn’t bad, but in February of last year it was 83% to 8%.

Q. Maybe the oil companies can to the job. A. They can’t be trusted. Even the feds are better and they aren’t doing what they could be doing.

How much to you trust the oil companies to act in the best interest of the public?
A lot + some =26%, Not much and None at all 74%

Who do you trust to manage this oil spill?

Do you approve of the way BP is handling the oil spill? Yes 13%, No 79%
Are they doing all they could? Yes 15%, No 81%
Obama administration doing all they could? Yes 28%, No 67%
Trust BP or federal government BP 27% Feds 56%

Let’s see. The country’s going the wrong direction say 60% to 32% of the people and no one has a clue what to do about it. The businesses don’t really want to help and the government doesn’t know how. Let’s take one more try.

Q. Are you ready to think big on energy? A. Sure, as long as we don’t have to pay for it.

Does U. S. energy policy need a complete change? Most people, 58% said yes to that. Rebuild a major part of it, 31%; minor changes would be enough 6%, So, compare how important it is to protect the environment v. developing new energy. Environment 29%, New Energy Sources 49%--and, in all fairness—Both 20%.

So how about paying for the development of those new sources by an increased tax on gas? Favor = 45%, Oppose = 51%.

Let’s say a n added dollar of federal tax to support new sources—this would be what columnist Thomas Friedman calls “a patriot tax.” Favor =32%, Oppose = 65%.

Well, how about 50 cents? Favor = 19%, Oppose = 48%

Do you thin that sometime in the next 25 years, the U. S. will develop an alternative to oil. Very likely = 24%, Somewhat likely = 35%, Not too = 17%, Not at all = 9%

And this is just the oil spill. This isn’t regaining American dominance in industry and trade. It isn’t replacing the old industrial era jobs with spiffy new green economy jobs. It isn’t cutting entitlements like Social Security and increasing the public funding of them at the same time. It isn’t controlling the annual deficit, much less beginning to shrink the national debt.

And this guy has been in office a year and a half already! What’s he been doing?

President Obama is not the problem BP is not the problem. Here’s the problem. The Framers , all from the East Coast, built us a government with a West Coast offense in mind. A three step drop and throw the ball on a timing pattern. We still do that pretty well. Conservatives probe weaknesses in the left side of the defense; liberals do the same on the right side. You can make small gains that way.

But controlling entitlement spending and reinvigorating the economy and replacing our tattered infrastructure aren’t things you can do with a three step drop. If you are willing to see the time the public gives its chosen leaders to solve its chosen problems as the same as the time a quarterback has to get rid of the ball, you can see why the Framers were such fans of the West Coast offense. They were pretty sure that no one, maybe George Washington, would have an offensive line that would allow him to look down the field and hit the big one. Controlling federal spending is a big one. It will take a politically insulated non-partisan commission with the power to hurt people or a bipartisan commission that neither party can withdraw from and which has the power to hurt people.

Either of those could hold off the pass rush long enough for a gifted quarterback to score a lot of points. Neither is remotely likely in the present partisan environment where there are no long term allies and all the leaders are predators of opportunity.

So we are committed to dinking and dunking, as they call it. We can make some first downs that way, but we can’t score the points we need and the clock is winding down. We look at the clock and we see that we need some big plays. Then we look at the pass rush and we’re still dinking and dunking when the clock runs out.

We’re going to have to find a way to elect someone and give him or her the time and the resources to formulate and execute an ambitious and excruciatingly painful plan. I don’t see it.