Majority of Americans See ‘Ridiculous’ Process in Washington

Rep. John Boehner is surrounded by reporters at the Capitol after the House voted to raise the debt ceiling. Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images.

House Speaker John Boehner got his votes. He passed a debt limit increase tied to significant deficit reduction with two-thirds of his conference supporting the bill. He only lost 28 of those 87 House freshmen and, most importantly for his legacy, he avoided becoming the face of default and potential economic calamity.

As we’ve noted in this space several times over the last month or so, despite Democrats being in charge of the Senate and the White House, this debate mostly played out on the Republican- and Tea Party-preferred turf of spending cuts. That’s a clear policy victory for the new Republican majority in the House.

However, neither members of Congress nor the president can wake up Tuesday morning with the comfort that they’ve emerged from this morass as the winner in the eyes of the American people.

The Washington Post and Pew Research Center are out with a poll that will be of little comfort at either end of Pennsylvania Avenue.

> “The public recoiled at the legislative process. In a Washington Post-[Pew Research Center] poll conducted before Obama announced the deal late Sunday, 37 percent say they now see the president less favorably, about double the number (18 percent) who viewed him in a more positive light. Boehner suffered a sharper drop in his image, with about three times as many saying their opinion of him has deteriorated rather than improved over the past few weeks (34 percent less favorable; 11 percent more so).

“Nearly three-quarters of Americans offered a negative word to describe how they viewed the budget negotiations. The top words were “ridiculous,” “disgusting” and “stupid.” Overall, nearly three-quarters of Americans offered a negative word.

“Just 2 percent had anything nice to say.”

The Gallup organization is out with its weekly job approval average for President Obama, which is at 42 percent for the week ending Sunday, July 31. That’s the lowest weekly job approval rating of his term, according to Gallup.

However, the Gallup data seem to suggest no great erosion of support among the president’s liberal base.

“The data show that Obama’s support from his liberal base remains as high relative to his overall average as it has throughout his term. Specifically, liberals’ approval of Obama last week was 72%, 30 points higher than his overall approval rating of 42%. By comparison, liberals’ approval has averaged about 28 points higher than his overall average so far in the Obama administration…

“[A]lthough President Obama’s job approval rating hit the low point of his administration during the past week and is down among most subgroups, there are no signs yet that he has taken a disproportionate hit among his traditional base of liberals and Democrats. On a relative basis, both of these groups remain as loyal to Obama compared with Americans overall as they have been on average since he took office in January 2009.”

Quinnipiac University is out with a poll Tuesday morning showing the impact of the debt and deficit debate on the president in Pennsylvania, a critical battleground state in next year’s election.

“The protracted slugfest over raising the national debt limit leaves President Barack Obama with a 54 – 43 percent disapproval among Pennsylvania voters, but he scores better than Republicans or Democrats in Congress, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

“President Obama has acted more responsibly in the debt ceiling debate than Congressional Republicans, voters say 44 – 37 percent.”

In general election match-ups, both Mitt Romney and home state contender Rick Santorum are in statistical ties with President Obama for Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral votes.

GIFFORDS RETURNS

All 430 votes cast Monday night on the House floor will be saved as part of congressional record, but one above all will be remembered in history.

Seven months after being shot in the head at a rally in Tucson, Rep. Gabrille Giffords, D-Ariz., made her return to the chamber to cast one of 269 “yea” votes in favor of the debt-limit deal.

The arrival of Giffords at first drew cheers from the Democratic side of the aisle, but as word of her presence quickly spread across the chamber, members from both parties were soon brought to their feet, showering her with a lengthy standing ovation.

In that moment, weeks of bitter partisanship over tax increases and entitlement cuts appeared to wash away as lawmakers were reminded of the civility that united them following last January’s shooting rampage that killed six people and wounded their colleague and a dozen others.

“I have closely followed the debate over our debt ceiling and have been deeply disappointed at what’s going on in Washington,” Rep. Giffords said in a written statement following the vote. “After weeks of failed debate in Washington, I was pleased to see a solution to this crisis emerge. I strongly believe that crossing the aisle for the good of the American people is more important than party politics. I had to be here for this vote. I could not take the chance that my absence could crash our economy.”

House Minority Leader Nance Pelosi, D-Calif., took special note of Rep. Giffords’ presence on the floor in comments following the vote, calling her the “personification of courage.”

Among those on hand to welcome Giffords back to the Capitol was Vice President Joe Biden, who had spent the day lobbying Democratic lawmakers wary of the agreement reached between the president and congressional leaders.

The vice president told reporters he “commiserated about the steps of recovery” with Giffords. Biden, who has had two craniotomies, also said he joked with Giffords, “Now we’re both member of the cracked head club.”

The Arizona Republic’s Dan Nowicki highlighted the effort by Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., to greet his fellow Arizonan.

“Flake said he got an opportunity to briefly interact with Giffords. Pia Carusone, Giffords’ chief of staff who accompanied her on the floor, whispered to Giffords that Flake was in the crush of well-wishers.

“‘She said, ‘Flake!’ and I gave her a hug,’ Flake recalled. ‘She said, ‘It’s great to be here.’ That’s exactly what she said. It was great. It really was.'”

Nowicki also writes that no timetable has been set for Giffords to return to Washington full time, but her appearance Monday does raise the question of whether she will run for her seat in 2012.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., who is a close friend of Giffords and also the chair of the Democratic National Committee, told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Tuesday that a decision on that matter had not yet been made.

“We are certainly getting her ready to make sure that she can run for re-election at the points that they’re ready to decide on that,” Wasserman Schultz said, noting that for the moment Giffords is focused on her recovery, which includes physical, occupational and speech therapy.

“She’s going to continue to work hard in that recovery. As you’ve seen, she’s got the heart of a lion [and] made remarkable progress,” Wasserman Schultz added. “Her supporters in Arizona and across the country, [and] her colleagues are making sure she doesn’t have to start from scratch when she makes that decision.”

While her political future may be unclear, Rep. Giffords seemed perfectly content to concentrate just on the moment. In a post to her Twitter account Monday evening, she wrote, “The #Capitol looks beautiful and I am honored to be at work tonight.”

On that point, there was overwhelming bipartisan agreement.

THE ART OF THE DEAL

The New York Times and POLITICO both provide tick-tocks of the constant activity this weekend in the halls of Congress and the West Wing as all the key players were searching for a deal that had proved elusive for months.

They’re both must-reads and highlight the importance of the relationship between Vice President Biden and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in getting a deal done.

POLITICO has the dramatic final phone call:

“The president called Boehner at 8:15 p.m. to see if that was enough to win over House Republicans.

“‘Do we have a deal?’ he asked.

“Boehner interrupted him, and Obama went silent. For a few seconds, the aides assembled around the president waited to see whether this deal, like so many before it, would fall apart.

“Then the president spoke up.

“‘Congratulations to you, too, John.'”

And the New York Times has great color on the weekend Chinese food order at the Capitol.

“Mr. McConnell, meanwhile, spoke three more times that day with Mr. Biden. That night he strategized with his staff between a series of phone calls, including one with Mr. Boehner. The group ordered Chinese food, and laughed when one fortune cookie advised: ‘You may be spending too much money.'”

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