The Budget Smokescreen

David Gergen, a former adviser to four presidents, is a senior political analyst for CNN. He is a professor of public service and the director of the Center for Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School. In an article, The Budget Smokescreen, he talks about the depressing situation shaping up in Washington with the nation’s finances. He informs us, American citizens that the immediate issue is that the federal government will begin shutting down services next Friday unless Congress and the White House can come to an agreement on a spending resolution. “ The sad part: in the end, the amount of money being fought over is only a tiny fraction of the nation’s budget deficit.” Gergen believes what is really beneath the surface of this potential shut down of the federal government is “ who can win over the public and potentially gain the upper hand for the political fights still ahead”. He then acknowledges that Clinton has used this tactic in 1995 to help the Democratic Party. But the problem for both parties is that the opinion of the public is unshaped due to what has recently happened in the Middle East and now with Wisconsin’s bill introduced taking away collective bargaining from public employee unions. Gergen spots out the smoke screen happening in Washington and raises the question, why is our government dodging the debates over Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, defense, and taxes? And I for one agree. It seems the never-ending game must continue. How much longer will the American people comply with the behavior out of Washington? Only time will tell.