N.Y. state stood out in an otherwise forgettable year

The year 2011 is coming to a rapid close. Like all other years, especially at this stage of my life, it has gone very quickly. It has been a year of significant change in many places and total gridlock in others. So as it winds down, it’s worth looking at the good, the bad and the ugly.

There isn’t much positive news coming out of Washington, D.C. The brightest story is that of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. The target of an attempted political assassination, she proved what individual bravery is all about. She recovered from her terrible wounds and proved that her faith and inner strength were the two strongest ingredients of the road to recovery.

It’s often unfair to blame all the bad news on the political parties, but this time there’s enough blame to go around. The House of Representatives is a leaderless body. Republican Speaker John Boehner is the captive of a handful of Tea Party zealots, and his majority leader, Eric Cantor, reminds me of the kind of loyalty that Brutus gave Caesar. It’s hard enough to run a body with 435 members, but when one-third of them are determined to bring down America, you can’t expect much to happen.

The Senate isn’t much better. The Democratic majority leader, Harry Reid, seems to be out of touch on most occasions and unable to act quickly and politically smart when the times demand it. The Republican minority leader, Mitch McConnell, is determined to do nothing else but bring down President Obama. He would have better served the country if he just stayed home and mailed in his vote. If he becomes the majority leader next year, he’ll get the same treatment from his Democratic minority that he gave to this year’s majority.

New York is well served by Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Steve Israel. Schumer tries to inject street smarts into his party conference, and even though he hogs all the Sunday news stories, he is a very effective representative for the state. Israel has taken on the difficult job of running the Democratic congressional campaigns next year, and if there is any dramatic change in power, his energy and drive will be the chief reason why.