CONCOMITANT: existing or occurring with something else, often in a lesser way; accompanying; concurrent

The climate has been rough in Congress this past year. 2009 may go down as one of the most contentious, partisan demonstrations of congressional governance in history. Granted, there were no shootings, wrestling matches, or physical demonstrations such as have occurred in the past. However, the daily (hourly) fighting and mud-slinging has been horrendous. Maybe it's due to the presence of instant media, but for some reason it seems worse than ever.

My take on it is biased, but I believe there is a not-so-subtle conspiracy among the Republicans to destroy the Obama administration. President Obama came into office with a promise to bring a more non-partisan atmosphere to the legislative process. He had the credentials and the "capital" to pull it off. But if he did that, it would ensure re-election and a successful era for the Democrats. It is my suspicion that the Republicans planned (and carried out) a systemic process of destroying that possibility.

The progressive agenda of President Obama has given the Republicans everything they needed to carry out their plan. Controversial legislation in the areas of finance, foreign policy and health care have been ripe for the chipping away procedures employed by those who oppose Obama and his administration.

What has resulted is an atmosphere of negativity. Legislation has been delayed, undermined, mis-represented, and near-fatally injured. That is a serious blow to the American people, but there is a concomitant result which may be more destructive: the American people have lost all faith in the Congress and its ability to function. The result of that perception has the potential of being even more dangerous than the failure of the individual legislation.

The American public is fragile. Economic failures at the level of Wall Street have played havoc with personal income, home ownership, employment, and investment. The usually "upbeat" nature of American attitudes has been exchanged for pessimism, negativity, and fear. It is unlike us, and we don't wear that clothing very well.

Granted, the Obama administration asked a lot of Congress in 2009. To be supportive meant adopting a whole new set of standards and credentials which were foreign to most of the opposition party. Those who are grounded in conservative (small "C") methods of legislation have been asked to expand their horizons and embrace methods of governance which they are unable (or unwilling) to adopt. Instead, they have chosen to undermine the legislative agenda of the Administration by carping and character assassination, labelling the President as "socialist." The fragile public has picked up on this response, leading to a concomitant loss of faith in an Administration which is committed to securing stability and restoring strength to American finance and Main Street and County Road commerce. It may take decades to overcome this concomitant damage.

It would be wonderful to think that 2010 would demonstrate a turn-around in this mind-set, and that a more bi-partisan approach to governance would prevail. But 2010 is an election year. The liklihood of that about-face is limited or even impossible to envision.

Photo Credit: www.treehugger.com/files/2009/12/senate-clima...
Dictionary Credit: Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.