TOT: Didn't the Democratic Party have a chance to focus on the economy in the President's first term? As a practical matter, voting "present" would never happen for two reasons:

*Believe it or not, the Republican representatives believe that their votes and their actions are representative of the desires of their constituencies. Three-fifths of the states now have GOP governors, which is another indication that there a whole lot of people who believe the Republican way is the correct way (or at least the lesser of two evils).

*To vote "present" for a year would be political suicide for the participants, and would afford a tremendous opportunity for the Dems in the following election to portray their opponents as - literally - "do nothing" representatives.

No - the answer is for the leadership in the White House and both Houses to actually LEAD. They need to ignore the radical elements of their constituencies and forge compromises which get things rolling. "The people have spoken." Our President for the next four years is Mr. Obama. His 51% popular vote win doesn't give him a "mandate," which means he has to compromise too.

I believe they will. We wouldn't have gotten to this point if the President had embraced and acted on the recommendations of the Simpson-Bowles Commission - a bipartisan commission WHICH HE HIMSELF CREATED back in 2010. I believe he didn't because he was looking toward the 2012 election and realized that in order to do so he would be alienating a portion of the voting population that he knew he desperately needed to get reelected. Remember, his wins in most of the swing states and in the popular vote were by slim margins. The negative attacks on Romney would not have been nearly as effective if the tax increases - yes - ON THE MIDDLE CLASS - and entitlement reductions which are inevitable - would have been enacted back in 2011. Cell phones and more food stamps wouldn't have gotten the job completely done. This was a calculation that turned out to be correct.

So now the President - in his own words - has "more flexibility." Let's see how he uses it. The answer is not with one party voting "present" on everything and letting the other side further wreck the economy of this country. The answer is for them to work together in compromise, which is how it has been done since the founding of this republic.

To vote "present" is consent to continue with the last four years failed policies. It is very easy to brand the Republican party as obstructionist when we don't look into the facts of the current proposals. There are some "present" policies that were voted against due to no way to fund except raising taxes; obama care is a perfect expample. They claim they will fund with savings from the medicare program. You would think that he would go a year to gage whether this is going to be viable. That's ok folks, that is not the only place the funding is going to come from. It is going to come from the people who have already been contributing. "Present" is not the solution, developing bipartisisn bills that are viable for the long term and able to finance with out increasing the debt. At the end of the day TOT your blog hit it on the head:

"Congress has failed us"

Congress is comprised of both parties, until both parties can unite for America, the fiscal cliff is not too far off. That is the current presidents challange, unite the country, unite the parties. Until that happens.....

Ron Paul Departs With ‘Our Constitution Has Failed’

Rep. Ron Paul, the iconic libertarian congressman from Texas, has delivered what will most likely be his final address to Congress.

In a sprawling, 52-minute speech to the House chamber, Paul lambasted U.S. government, politicians and special interests, declaring that the U.S. people must return to virtue before the government allows them to be free, and that the Constitution has failed to limit the scope of an authoritarian bureaucracy.

“Our Constitution, which was intended to limit government power and abuse, has failed,” Paul said. “The Founders warned that a free society depends on a virtuous and moral people. The current crisis reflects that their concerns were justified.”

Congress continues to pass legislation that is contrary to the best interest of The People it represents. Choose a link below to examine how Congress has passed legislation that has fail to protect your best interest.

The Center for Responsive Politics as noted on it’s website www.opensecrets.org, found that in 2011, 12,600 lobbyists spent $3.30 Billion buying access and influence in the halls of Congress.

Just a parting shot... We as Americans also have a duty to act accordingly. We are a country divided; at the lowest level we need to unite and support each other. We always say we do not want government invloved in our daily lives. I close with the infamous quote for JFK:

"Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what can you do for your country"