Did The Republicans Really Win?

Like all political junkies, I wake up early on Sunday's to watch the political talk shows to see what news, if any, is going to be made. This week consisted of the budget battle and the last minute deal that was reached on Friday. So I'm watching Meet The Press and This Week, and the consensus among the reporters was that because the Republicans pushed the Democrats around, and got the cuts they were asking for, they were the winners. But then I wondered: what else is new? While getting an agenda through Congress can sometimes equal a political victory, this policy victory won't equal a political victory for the GOP.

Collectively, Congress has always had low approval ratings. It doesn't matter what they do, people watch the debates on C-SPAN and see the overblown rhetoric used by politicians on the news, and guess what..they don't like it. It gets to a point where both parties are looking like they are trying to save face (which they are) and really aren't doing what they were elected to do, represent the people. The way the negotiations took place this week didn't give American's any more confidence in their government, and instead, showed both sides to be spoiled brats.

We still don't know what the particulars are of the $38 billion that was cut, but who cares?! All the Republicans cared about was appeasing the Tea Party and cried for more cuts after getting what they originally asked for. I'm sure when John Boehner met with Harry Reid and President Obama at the White House, it was pointed out to him that polls consistently showed the majority of Republicans wanted a compromise. But all we got was more rhetoric and statements that argued for more cuts because it will help the economy or because abortions are bad. Both arguments are the crutch Republicans turn to when they know they reached too far, and people are sick of it.

The Republican's also liked to say elections have consequences, which is true. If the Democrats kept the House last year none of this would have happened. A Continuing Resolution would have been passed to keep spending levels where they were and no one could have complained. It's been done many times before. Even though they got their sound bites out there, the GOP never came up with one policy solution to help end the situation. If the government shut down it would have been their fault because they are the ones complaining.

In the meantime, Democrats looked like they didn't even know what they stood for. Even though they still control the Senate and White House they weren't able to get a strong message out. The way Boehner was acting was a gift for them. When he says that Government is the problem, Democrats should have reminded him of TARP (which he was in favor of) and how the program has actually earned America money. It was probably just easier for him to support it while George W. Bush was going to have to sign it into law. While Democrats can't totally claim it was their idea, there is no reason they can't use it to argue against Boehner's assertion that government programs were hurting the economy.

I'm not going to go as far to say the Democrats won, but it's hard for me to believe the Republicans took the trophy. American's want to see their government work for them, and when they see both sides bickering over an issue that really isn't going to help anyone, it makes them feel they don't have the right people representing them. As both parties tried in the aftermath to position themselves as "winning" they need to realize at some point they are going to get booed off the stage.