Back to reality

It has long been assumed that the presidential election would hog all the attention that news media and the public were willing to give politics this year. The early and vigorous start of the White House race the day after the 2006 midterms ended made sure the ’08 cycle dominated the chattering classes’ attention for months.

But recently, pundits have admitted sotto voce that they are jaded by all the presidential debates; the sense has grown that America has more pressing matters on its mind.

That sense has strengthened in the past week despite the buildup of tension in advance of the Florida primary and Super Tuesday. This, though, is not due mostly to a superfluity of presidential news and the obvious fact that excitement leading up to the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary could not last.

It is, rather, because of foreboding about the economy. The augurs are not good, and serious attention is now being paid less to those seeking future power and more to those already exercising power — those who have the opportunity and duty to use it in the face of a gathering storm.

Congress and the president have thus reasserted their primacy in the political field. Looking into the maw of a damaging recession, both have concluded that they must work together, despite their profound differences, and buttress the economy, consumer and business confidence and markets.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Sunday that he is optimistic that an economic stimulus package can be “done, signed and ready to go” by March 1.

“I think both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue, both parties, realize our economy is headed south in a significant way and we need relief,” said Schumer, the chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, adding that “partisan fights and dithering” would make matters worse.

The senator told “Fox News Sunday” that the White House and the majority Democrats on Capitol Hill agree “that the centerpiece of such a plan should be tax relief particularly aimed at middle-income people.”

Bush is not fighting to include an extension to the tax cuts he won in his first term and which Democrats so dislike. And Democrats agree that there will need to be business tax cuts. Both sides are determined to avoid seeming ineffectual; both want a signing ceremony and know there is already a risk that they have waited too long.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), talking on ABC, touted a spirit of cooperation between the Bush administration and congressional Democrats, saying both the executive and legislative branches know that swift action is necessary and “absolutely nothing” is off the table.

This is where the unreality of campaign politics, with its lawn signs and buttons and sound-bite rhetoric, gives way to the hard realities of government. Congress is back in town, and it is also back at the center of the political landscape.