Politico's Take on Waxman

Nothing Has Changed in Forty Years -- Bald Head, no Bold Ideas to Rebuild this Country

 

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0712/78697.html

Politco.com's recent interview with the top-two candidates for the 33rd Congressional District, was very revealing, showing a long-time incumbent who has taken his frequent reelection bids for granted for over forty years.

There is something wrong with the political process in this country when a legislator can claim that he has not faced a serious challenge to his power since the days of President Lyndon Johnson, an overwhelming progressive whose policies still haunt the halls of entitlement while institutionally bankrupting this country with a culture of expanded dependency.

If the Republican and independent voters in this state will get respite, it will be due to the fact that Waxman will not be able to pour his campaign coffers into defending other candidates or shoring up support for other causes. That only is enough to rejoice that for the first time Mr. Waxman will be facing a real challenge to his political hegemony in the Los Angeles area:

“Quite frankly, I haven’t had to run a serious campaign in quite a long time, but now, I’m going to,” Waxman told POLITICO. “I’m not going to take anything for granted.”

This blunt should be enough to dissuade voters in this election cycle from giving Waxman more than a passing glance. What respect, what regard did this Congressman have for his voters after previous elections? It is astounding that this man could blatantly declare previous victories as "granted."

Public service is nothing to take for granted, Mr. Waxman.

But, competing in a splintered field, the congressman received just 45 percent of the votes cast in the June 5 race — a potentially worrisome sign for such a longtime incumbent.

Politico neglected to mention that fewer than one hundred thousand votes were cast during the primary, but now that Bill Bloomfield has established himself for the general election, he will have the next four months informing voters about his record of reform and bipartisanship, both of which shine in stark contrast to the distant LA Congressman.

In an interview, Bloomfield wouldn’t say how much he intends to spend on his race, saying only: “I am going to spend enough for voters to know what I’m about.”

Mr. Bloomfield has informed supportive and prospective voters throughout the district that he want to end the incumbent-induced partisan gridlock which keeps spending this country into fiscal oblivion without resolving our nation's ongoing dependence on foreign oil. Education reform is also a top priority for the candidate, along with ending the power of special interests in Congress,many

of which hold politicians at bay from voting in the best interests of those whom they are called to serve.

In a district where Democrats outnumber Republicans 43 percent to 28 percent, he argued, voters who turn out to support President Barack Obama would also back him.

This is a naive perception. Obama is like ballot-box poison. Staunch Democrats who may not want to vote for the alternative will likely stay home. A string of broken promises and slow recovery have disillusioned the youth and minority vote in the country. the two demographics who helped propel Obama into office because of his novel minority status. Obama has nothing but hollow attacks to run on, and Waxman's record does him mor harm than good for a constituency that has never considered him before.

One worry: that Bloomfield’s independent bid will win support from voters fed up with Congress and looking for something different.

This is the defining point of this contest. Waxman's tenure is one of his many liabilities. Congress has never been so unpopular, the popular rating stagnant in the single digits of the at least the past three years. Waxman has been Washington fixture for years. Indiana Senator Richard Lugar received an untimely send-off in June. Voters across the country have signaled their willingness to throw out long-standing legislators and give someone else a chance to speak on their behalf.