Throw The Bums In

Halloween and the midterm elections are coming, and we all know which is more frightening. Uncle Jay can't help being nervous, but he's not nearly as nervous as some politicians. They might have to actually start looking for the jobs they haven't created.

A Gallup poll found that a majority of voters disapprove of last year’s economic stimulus package, the auto industry bailout, health care reform, and the banking industry bailout.

The bank bailout was the least popular, with only 37 percent approval. In fact, of major legislative initiatives over the last two years, only the financial reform bill breaks the 50 percent approval mark. Congress has struggled to keep approval ratings around 20 percent for the last year, and a poll earlier in the year showed that only 8 percent of Americans polled wanted the members of Congress to be re-elected.

Those stats sounds pleasingly catastrophic for the political status quo, and nothing makes professional election watchers happier than the words blowout, sweep, sea change, or a chance to use the phrase throw the bums out in a headline.

But before everyone succumbs to election season delirium, it’s worth taking a moment to remember that no matter how peeved the American population fancies itself, no matter how dramatic a change of partisan control in one or both houses might seem, one thing is certain: The vast majority of the current Congress can count on returning to Washington and business as usual.

‘Throw the bums out’ harder than it looks