© 2024 WKNO FM
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Americans Say They Are Dissatisfied With Washington

DAVID GREENE, Host:

Good morning, Cokie.

COKIE ROBERTS: Hi, David.

GREENE: So Congress is already pretty unpopular and David Welna just said the success of the supercommittee is looking increasingly elusive. What happens if they fail to act? Do they get even less popular?

ROBERTS: And other institutions are also suffering no confidence votes - business, banks, the media - and I think that's what we're seeing reflected in these demonstrations that started on Wall Street and now seem to be picking up around the country.

GREENE: Yeah, these demonstrations are something to see. I mean there have been hundreds of people in New York the last couple weeks. I mean they've been stopping traffic, they've ? and people are beginning to imitate them around the country. I mean, is this sort of part of a movement or is it just, you know, a few hundred people getting the word on social media sites?

ROBERTS: Now, some of this is completely normal. He's in office. But he needs these folks. He has to get their enthusiasm and he can't just run saying, you know, vote for me because you don't like the Republican, which seems to be the current strategy.

GREENE: Well, and obviously the Republican Party hasn't coalesced around anyone, but there was some campaign fodder this weekend, a new controversy involving Texas Governor Rick Perry and his hunting days in Texas, the hunting land his family leased for many years. I mean what is this and is it going to have traction?

ROBERTS: So it's just keeping Perry on the defensive. And you know, this is the problem of the national versus the Texas spotlight and how he plays on national stage. Meanwhile the Republicans still seem to be searching for another candidate. There are reports that Chris Christie, the governor of New Jersey could decide this week whether to get in or not.

GREENE: Well, and he keeps denying it, but let me ask the question this way. If he were to get in, I mean does it matter at this point?

ROBERTS: It's also not clear whether voters want a candidate like that this election or somebody who's calming things down and being the grownup, and that's what we'll see as the election plays out.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

GREENE: You are listening to MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

David Greene is an award-winning journalist and New York Times best-selling author. He is a host of NPR's Morning Edition, the most listened-to radio news program in the United States, and also of NPR's popular morning news podcast, Up First.
Cokie Roberts was one of the 'Founding Mothers' of NPR who helped make that network one of the premier sources of news and information in this country. She served as a congressional correspondent at NPR for more than 10 years and later appeared as a commentator on Morning Edition. In addition to her work for NPR, Roberts was a political commentator for ABC News, providing analysis for all network news programming.