Congressional Elections About Direction of U.S. Government

Democrats may not be providing enough details on what they will do if they take control of Congress, but Republicans have fallen short in leadership and getting things done

Commentary
By Scott McLean

Democrats and Republicans are at it again. With verbal pokes and attack ads abundant, the races may be fun to follow for political activists, but one can't blame most Americans for wishing the campaign spectacle would just go away.

And then there is the fine art of the political 'spin'. The White House is a good place to look for Republican campaign talk--and spin--because President Bush wants another two years of Republican control of Congress.

If Democrats take control by winning enough House and Senate races for a majority in each chamber, the president will have hard time getting what he wants from Congress.

Tony Snow, the White House Press Secretary, a national talk show host prior to taking this job, seems like nice guy and a great spokesman for the president, who in my opinion deserved those poor poll numbers. Snow's job must be very difficult, although at times he makes it look easy.

There seems to be little problem getting reporters to like him, the problem is trying to make voters like Republican congressmen. At one time Congress had worse poll numbers than the president.

What are Democrats going to do as leaders in Congress if they win big on Election Day? Tony Snow wants to know! During this week's White House Press Briefing he said Democrats don't have a plan.

About Democrats in Congress, Snow said: "They've talked about a whole series of things, in terms of complaining -- looking back over their shoulders and complaining about past decisions. But when it comes to the key issue, how do you achieve victory -- they say they want to achieve it, but they won't tell you how. They will tell you what they oppose what the President is doing. They oppose the Patriot Act; they have opposed the Terrorist Surveillance Program; they oppose the program by which we detain, question and bring to justice the worst of the terrorists. So they have opposed all of those things, so we know what they oppose, but we don't know what they're going to do."

I do agree, they should say what they will do, but if the Democrats decide to reverse some of these programs or at least ensure that the programs will not violate the civil liberties of regular Americans, then that is a plan. It's a great plan as I see it.

The scope of these programs must be limited to preventing terrorism and catching terrorists, and the government should stop violating the privacy rights of regular Americans.

But it begins by having a Congress that doesn't just let the president do whatever he wants in the war on terror, especially they need to stop wasting billions of dollars as though it were pocket change.

I know Americans care about those billions, which now adds up to well over $300 billion spent on the war in Iraq. I seem to recall Republicans were against wasting taxpayer dollars. Times have changed. It doesn't appear they have such a big advantage over Democrats on that issue anymore.

Republicans are responsible for enormous waste of Americans' hard-earned money. Maybe that's the kind of plan Snow was talking about. If so, he may be right. I doubt that Democrats have a plan to waste so much money on the war.