Greg Awtry

I hunted ducks for years. You would get to the duck blind in the early morning, still dark.

You would spread your decoys and then crawl into your blind, making sure it (and you) were well camouflaged. And you would wait.

Before the sun inched its way over the eastern horizon, you would begin hearing sounds of the morning flight taking shape. Large “Vs” of mallards, high overhead, quacking incessantly, wings flapping hard to keep up, small groups spinning off the main body, looking for cover.

Next, and with the best intentions, you would lay on your duck call, squawking, chucking, cackling, in short; trying your best to get the overhead mallards’ attention.

Small groups of ducks would break off the main “V” and circle a few times to make sure it was safe to land. They would set their wings and slowly glide over the decoys. In unison the blind’s doors would be thrown open and steel shot would fill the crisp morning air.

Some of the ducks fell dead with a resounding splash. Others, wounded by the onslaught, would spin to the ground and dart into the heavy cover. These are the ones you had to worry about. They were lame ducks, wounded and with no hope of recovery, now separated from their group, hiding in the frost-covered reeds along the banks of the Platte River.

The same thing is about to happen again, this time along the banks of the Potomac River that glides through Washington D.C. Dozens of congressmen and women, politically wounded with no hope of recovery, were blasted out of office by angry hunters. These lame ducks will crawl into the darkened cloakrooms for one last ditch attempt to pass legislation affecting our lives, with no accountability to voters, who have already emptied their guns at the polls.

This fall, Washington will have more lame ducks hiding in the weeds since the 40s. Politically wounded they must take up a full slate of activity before year end, at which time they will limp back to their home states and join the ranks of the unemployed. Normally, lame duck sessions can be quite dull. This season that is unlikely because the parties have been too busy fighting each other instead of doing the people’s work. Now, instead of flying around in formation, making lots of noise, these lame ducks have to do what they like to do the least, go to work!

First and foremost, the government has once again hit its spending limit. The government has no more money to operate and would face a shutdown if this bloody Congress doesn’t increase our debt limit by Dec. 3, 2010, allowing us to borrow even more money to pay the country’s bills. (This Congress spends about $10 billion a day, of which they must borrow nearly $4 billion a day. Do we wonder why so many of them have been fired?)

Secondly, the Bush tax cuts are about to expire. If they are not extended American families will face a huge tax increase next year. The $1,000 per child would be cut in half, and taxes would increase on investments. Other tax laws need amended or millions of families will be hit with the alternative minimum tax (AMT) costing those families thousands of additional tax dollars.

There are other important items Congress ignored as they spent the last few months flying around begging us for money and votes. Social Security recipients are waiting to see if they will get a $250 increase. Unemployment benefits are about to expire … again. Medicare payments to doctors are set to be reduced if Congress doesn’t act. (If Congress had worked half as hard as the people they govern, America would be in much better shape.)

This Congress has so mismanaged the people’s business because they chose to play parliamentary games for two years, it’s no wonder so many lame ducks are flitting around the nation’s capital. They forgot who they worked for and the American people reminded them last week as to who’s the boss. Many of these politicians deserved to be culled from the flock, but before they return to their former congressional districts, they have to finish the work we hired them to do. It will be an interesting duck season to see if they act like patriots or partisans.

Then, in January, the new ducklings with their new promises will descend on Washington. The people will be out there early, setting their decoys, waiting for the morning flight to begin once again. We will be listening for the rush of wings, intently watching and waiting for the sun to break over the horizon to see if this new day will be any different from the past.

I won’t hold my breath. If history repeats itself, and Washington changes the ducklings into ugly swans, then duck season will begin all over again in a couple of years.

Can you make a living blaming others for your own shortcomings? Apparently you can, or should I say President O-Blame-a can.

Two years into what is increasingly looking like a failed presidency, President O-Blame-a, the left wing extremist who excited a country by blaming Republicans and George Bush for all that ails America, has pointed the finger at everyone but himself. The “Blame it on Bush” excuse has worn thin, but he still pulls it out of his bag of tricks nearly every week as he darts around the nation still in campaign mode.

But George Bush and the Republicans are not alone when it comes to being the butts of the blame game. President O-Blame-a routinely blames big business, insurance companies, the oil industry and now Fox News. Last week he said of the most popular news network in America, “It’s a point of view that I think is ultimately destructive for the long-term growth of a country that has a vibrant middle class and is competitive in the world.”

O-Blame-a actually said we have a “vibrant middle class!” Since when does the definition of “vibrant middle class” mean 9.6 percent unemployment and five million Americans receiving unemployment checks every month? Since when does it mean millions of Americans slipping out of O-Blame-a’s “vibrant middle class” into poverty, with more Americans living in poverty than ever before in our history?

President O-Blame-a, with a clear majority of Democrats in the Senate and the House, still blames the Republicans for the state of the economy. For once, I agree with him. And the Republicans blame the overspending Democrats. I agree with them too. It’s something we can finally all agree on. It is the Republicans and Democrats fault! There is plenty of blame to go around. The biggest difference this year, Americans are playing the blame game too, and rightfully so we are blaming all of the Washingtonians!

Where else do you lay the blame? This administration and Congress, and the administrations and Congresses over the past 20 years have made this country a debtor nation. High taxes, Congress’s fault, has forced U.S. companies overseas and millions of jobs are gone forever, causing huge trade deficits robbing this nation of its wealth. Our government borrows billions of dollars a day, much of it from other nations, sending even more of our wealth overseas.

The Washingtonians have raided Social Security since its inception leaving nothing but IOUs, yet they continually pass new entitlement programs like the recent health care fiasco that we can’t possibly afford. And they continue to spend with no regard for who will have to repay these astronomical numbers of debt, currently over $13 trillion and growing completely out of control.

The President and the major parties must stop this blame game now. They must collectively stand up and take responsibility for what they have done to our country. They must collectively start working together to reverse these unsustainable trends or our nation will continue to get poorer and poorer. No longer will the American people let them hide between partisan apron strings and do their work in dingy cloakrooms. We are wise to them. We are letting them know through our votes.

We are demanding a responsive and responsible government, one that will listen to the people, one that will live within its means, one which will work together to get this nation back on the path of individual opportunity for all.

We have a history. This land was settled by those who fled from an overpowering government. We went to war with an overpowering government to declare our independence. We wrote our founding documents that limited federal powers and gave the power to the people and the states, fearful of what an over-bloated centralized government could and would do if left unchecked. And now, more than 200 years into this noble experiment, we see the consequences and we don’t like it.

President O-Blame-a, you want to continue the blame game? Democrats and Republicans, do you want to continue the blame game? Then build a wall, a wall of mirrors around the beltway that separates Washington from the real world. From there you can look out and see your reflection, and when you point the finger, it will point it right back at you.

The people will get it right. It may not take place with just one election, it may take several, but make no mistake about it, we’ll get it right. But for now, we go to political rallies with signs. If the blame game continues, may I suggest the next time we all take mirrors!