So the Washington Post had a pundit contest this week, and I entered.  By admitting that, I’ve set myself up for some heavy jeering in a week or two.  Oh well.  Anyway, I ended up writing two pieces for the contest, but you’re only allowed to submit one.  Here’s the one I didn’t submit. 

A recent AP article wondered if the Virginia Gubernatorial race gives us a “snapshot” of US attitudes.  Indeed it does: it shows us that Americans of all political stripes are disgusted by the political process.  Less than a year ago, over 64 million Americans went to the voting booth to cast their ballot for Barack Obama.  They did so, in many cases, despite fear and trepidation.  Who was this new fellow with the rumbling baritone, the cool demeanor, and the lofty promises?  They did so, in many cases, despite ideological uncertainty.  Did this man really transcend partisanship?  Yet, they leapt. Eleven months later they’re still falling. 

    Our politics haven’t changed.  On health care, this President has managed to woo exactly 1 Republican, Olympia Snowe, and she may yet balk on the final bill.  He had scarcely more success during the stimulus debate.  The bill’s biggest Republican backer is now a Democrat.  Nor has the process improved much.  There haven’t been televised meetings with insurance companies to increase transparency; the promised open dialogue with the rest of the world has yet to materialize and, Nobel Prize notwithstanding, Obama’s substantially followed the Bush line on Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iran.  Even for those of us who never thought much of these promises, the change is startling.

    Nor is Obama the only culprit.  Republican voters, who’d grown disenchanted with their party during the Bush years, were promised a new dawn free from harsh glare of self-serving, penny ante politicos.  Yet, the headlong rush for power has continued.  In New Jersey, the establishment Republicans promoted Chris Christie over the more principled Steve Lonegan.  Now, after breaking free at the 50 yard line, Christie is fumbling in the red-zone.  An independent whose name could be an epithet has seized the momentum. 

    In Florida, slick Governor Charlie Crist is contending for a Senate seat against the more conservative Marco Rubio.  Again, establishment Republicans are falling over themselves to back the cipher; to no avail it seems.  Rubio has moved to within 15 points of Crist in three recent polls.  If Virginia’s gubernatorial race is really a microcosm of the nation, it’s not because Americans are satisfied with Republicans.  Instead, they’re dissatisfied with a process that churns out mediocre leaders like so much butter.  For now anyway, the Democrats are the face of that process and so may not win.  But, ultimately Americans are the losers.