If there is one area where the Obama administration and the American people seem in fundamental agreement, it is in their contempt for Washington.

Not, presumably, for the actual place of schools and neighborhoods and monuments but for the conceptual Washington, the symbolic city. Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, with typical delicacy, calls it "[expletive]-nutsville," a judgment that earthier Tea Party activists might share. Senior adviser David Axelrod has announced his spring departure. "I think he's not having fun," says a White House colleague. A recent profile claims that Axelrod's idealism was disappointed by "a ferociously stubborn, possibly irredeemable system." And Barack Obama himself constantly complains about the "politicking" and obstructionism of the capital city, where they "talk about me like a dog." Much of the White House senior staff seems to long for a purer, simpler, more wholesome kind of politics . . . in Chicago.

The tension here is obvious. Even while depicting Washington as a flawed, fractured, hopeless mess, the Obama administration has sought to increase the influence of Washington over America's economy and health-care system. In the Obama era, Washington helps run auto companies, oversees some corporate salaries, imposes an individual mandate to purchase health insurance, and seeks to rationalize the health-care system with a profusion of new boards, offices, agencies and commissions -- estimates vary from 47 to 159 new bureaucratic entities.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Psychology • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • House of Representatives • Office of the President • President Barack Obama • Senate • * International News & Commentary • America/U.S.A.

1. palagious wrote: I think the whole “American public is ignorant” mantra for the midterms is going to work out well for the Democrats in November. September 28, 10:10 am | [comment link]

2. Vatican Watcher wrote: Much of the White House senior staff seems to long for a purer, simpler, more wholesome kind of politics . . . in Chicago. Where opposition is rare and the little people are not so uppity… September 28, 12:18 pm | [comment link]

3. Archer_of_the_Forest wrote: a purer, simpler, more wholesome kind of politics . . . in Chicago. You have got to be kidding me! I used to live in Chicago. They don’t call it the “windy city” simply because of the weather. September 28, 2:24 pm | [comment link]

4. DonGander wrote: This article is ripe with straw dogs and other propaganda techniques. “Even while depicting Washington as a flawed, fractured, hopeless mess, the Obama administration has sought to increase the influence of Washington over America’s economy and health-care system.” It also illustrates the true problem - I suspect accidently. Washington IS a mess, and it was careless, selfish people who made it so. The one other place I tend to agree with the article is that the electorate are idiots (for electing those that feed off plitical gain). Don September 28, 5:22 pm | [comment link]

5. Dan Crawford wrote: Such a nice town filled with such loathsome characters from every part of the political spectrum. And look at the even more loathsome bunch eager to get to the nice town in November. September 28, 6:11 pm | [comment link]

6. David Keller wrote: As JFK said—Washington is the perfect city, full of Southern efficiency and Northern charm. September 29, 8:51 am | [comment link]

Registered members must log in to comment.