The disconnect between DC and the rest of the fruited plain has increased. Evidence from Politico:
"America is struggling with a sputtering economy and high unemployment — but times are booming for Washington’s governing class.
The massive expansion of government under President Barack Obama has basically guaranteed a robust job market for policy professionals, regulators and contractors for years to come. The housing market, boosted by the large number of high-income earners in the area, many working in politics and government, is easily outpacing the markets in most of the country. And there are few signs of economic distress in hotels, restaurants or stores in the D.C. metro area.
As a result, there is a yawning gap between the American people and D.C.’s powerful when it comes to their economic reality — and their economic perceptions.
A new POLITICO poll, conducted by market research and consulting firm Penn Schoen Berland, underscores the big divide: Roughly 45 percent of “Washington elites” said the country and the economy are headed in the right direction, while roughly 25 percent of the general population said they felt that way.
In May, unemployment in metro Washington hit 6 percent — an uptick from April’s rate for the area but well below the national average of 9.5 percent and far milder than the May rates of the shattered manufacturing towns of the Midwest, including Flint, Mich. (at 14.7 percent), Elkhart, Ind. (at 13.7 percent) and Rockford, Ill. (at 13.9 percent).
“The unemployment rate in Flint today is as high as it was when my grandfather graduated from Flint Central High School in 1935,” Flint Mayor Dayne Walling told POLITICO. Walling pleaded for something few in Washington are willing to do in this political climate: jack up government spending right now.
“I understand that the federal government has a large, long-standing structural problem with its spending, and that needs to be addressed,” he said. “But the middle of an economic crisis is not the time for that conversation.”
What Mayor Walling doesn't realize is that by making a statment like that, he's giving the DC elites what they want, Dependence on them. That leads to more arrogance from them. More from Politico:
"All of this could have big political consequences. It doesn’t take polls and studies to know that much of America thinks very little of the Washington governing class.
Indeed, one of the defining characteristics of this election cycle has been the rise of anti-establishment political power in key races — fueled by a belief that this city just doesn’t get it. The old perks of power, such as chairmanships and pork, are often liabilities as voters turn to tea party candidates and newcomers opposed by the establishments of both parties.
The disconnect between D.C. elites and the general public is stoking the growth of more direct popular movements like MoveOn and [the] tea party,” said Mark Penn, who helped conduct the poll. “The D.C. elites are largely isolated from the economic downturn, and this means that they can easily fail to understand the depth of dissatisfaction out in the country.”
Easily fail to understand?? I'd say they've failed to understand many times over!
Background Reading:
Politico: Reality gap: U.S. struggles, D.C. booms
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