Worthless Words and Wasting Time in Washington

I’ve had an increasingly difficult time convincing myself that I have a love of politics. I came to Georgetown because I wanted to be closer to all of the action. But I find myself becoming more and more frustrated with America's leaders. I know I am not alone. Many of my friends have become disillusioned with the women and men in Washington. The summer of 2005 brought many things to light. Here are just a few examples.

If I wrote in this column that America is pretty much a white, Christian nation, would I be wrong? No. That’s because America is pretty much a white, Christian nation. So when Howard Dean stated early this summer that the Republican Party is “pretty much a white, Christian party,” I did not understand all the criticism. What he said is just not blatantly true of America and the Republican Party, but of the Democratic Party as well.

Another Democrat who got in trouble with words was Senator Dick Durbin (Ill.). As so many other politicians have foolishly done, Durbin compared the interrogation techniques at Guantanamo to those of the Nazis. A cardinal rule of anything, let alone politics, is to never make any comparison to Adolf Hitler. Just don’t do it. Even though Durbin’s comment was harmless — and probably true — it created such a backlash that there was speculation he would resign as minority whip. These are just two examples of our leaders steering off message and getting preoccupied with things that don’t matter.

No one in Washington understands what anyone else is saying. The only politician immune to this is the president because he has Scott McClellan repeating content from primetime speeches at his press briefings. Nobody can be confused about his 10-word policies. The subliminal trick of suggestion works really well with people, even with smart Georgetown students.

The president does not get enough credit for how little credit he gives to the American people. His message has been the same since he entered the presidency. Simplify issues as much as possible, and then go with gut instinct. That would be a great policy for any time other than the one we’re living in now. Has there ever been a more important time for our politicians to engage in stimulating debate about the issues?

Instead, there is the combination of the Democrats talking a lot but saying very little and the president holding tightly to his cliched Bushisms. When was the last time anyone in either party seriously challenged the president on an issue? It is difficult to remember because of the time spent on rash commentary.

It is with growing alarm I realize that the faith I had in my leaders is unfounded. Sadly, there is no panacea for Washington politicians, no lights turning on, no issue-based debate.

Therein lies the problem with today’s politicians. I understand as well as anyone that in order to legislate, they need to be elected. But when are our leaders ever really legislating? In the months that they have to govern, very little is achieved besides squabbling and he-said-she-said.

As soon as President Bush was re-elected, the pundits on every news network started wondering about the 2008 election. Sure, that’s exciting. But very little attention was paid to what needs to be done in America before the next election takes place.

Nothing has changed since the election. In the time leading up to the election, it was fun and exciting listening to the different candidates and wondering who might win. You may have even supported a candidate. Now, with the country facing serious issues, there is still talk of a presidential election that is more than three years away. The pundits and politicians have not expanded their vocabularies in the last 10 months.

Senators and Congressmen earn $162,100 each year they are in Congress and the respective party leaders make $180,100. To put that in perspective, that’s more than three years of study at Georgetown. With that sort of money flowing into the pockets of our leaders, it is clear that they are not doing enough to legitimate our vote after they’ve earned it.

Politics today has become folly. It no longer reflects its founding purpose of bringing communities together to make decisions that benefit human flourishing. It’s time for our leaders to put their salaries to better use by investing in a steady diet of classes here at the Hilltop.

Abed Z. Bhuyan is a sophomore in the School of Foreign Service.