Confused Politics in America

From Greg Sargeant in his blog at the Washington Post:

More House Dems balking at ending Bush tax cuts for rich

Even as President Obama is mounting a strong stand in favor of letting the Bush tax cuts for the rich expire, and even as he's signaling that it will be a major campaign issue, more and more vulnerable House Dems are bolting in the other direction.

Here's a quick rundown of Dems in tough races who are coming out against ending the tax cuts for the rich:

* Rep Jim Himes of Conneticut says he supports a termporary extension, because earning $250,000 annually "does not make you really rich."

* Rep Bobby Bright of Alabama came out against ending the tax cuts, because "a vast majority of my constituents ... don't believe in tax increases on anybody at this point in time."

* Rep Ron Klein of Florida wants a one year extension of the tax cuts, including those for the rich, because "right now, our top economic priority has to be job creation."

* Rep Gerry Connolly of Virginia says the tax cuts should remain because the recovery remains "fragile."

* Rep Gary Peters of Michigan wants the cuts to continue lest we "jeopardize economic recovery."

* Rep Harry Mitchell of Arizona says he "strongly" opposes letting the tax cuts lapse because "we need to encourage investment, not discourage it."

No wonder Americans are not highly motivated to vote. The Democratic party has "blue dogs" and "crypto Republicans" and "southern rednecks" and "professional leftists" in it. What a dogs breakfast. No wonder nobody knows what they are voting for or why. And to top that all off, they've got Obama who doesn't think the job of the President extends to actually leading his party or the country, nor working hard to explain what he's done, why he's done it, and what difference it will make.

In Canada, we don't have this kind of "sophisticated politics". Here the members of a party are expected to toe party line. If not, they are expelled from the party. I'm guessing there is no "party line" to toe in the US. At least it seems to me that if there was a "party platform" nobody has bothered to read it and nobody feels obliged to abide by it. So what are voters voting on? A pig in a poke?