Congress has failed. Miserably failed. Epically failed.

The supercommittee didn’t have an easy job, I will state that up front. Neither do families who have lost income, foreclosed homes, or mounting health bills. But, they make those tough decisions every day and figure out how to balance their budget. Our representatives in Washington should do the same.

We elect our leaders to lead… not to play games, pout, and point fingers. Unfortunately, most of them have decided it is far easier to blame others than actually make tough decisions. Yesterday morning that’s all I saw on the Sunday morning shows. There was lots of talk about how the other side had failed and NO accountability. Sen. Kerry and Sen. Kyl were more than happy to criticize the other party, but never once owned up to their own failings and the failings of their parties. You want to tell me that an objective Republican couldn’t look at this process and not say that their party leaders made mistakes? The same goes for the Democrats… really?

Heck, why were the supercommittee members even on TV? Shouldn’t they have been in emergency meetings trying to hammer out an agreement? In fact, Mike Allen reported this weekend that the group last met publicly Nov. first. And… he reported their last private work session was late October! That’s the best they could do… giving up almost a full month before the deadline?

Imagine if Congress had punted on civil rights, financial policy to pull us out of the Depression, and decisions to go to battle in World War I and World War II. These were tough votes. There was a healthy debate. In the end, our leaders came together and got something done. They made the right call. They led. The issues facing our country at this moment are just as weighty and this Congress and president appear incapable of tough decisions.

The only leading we see now is couched in politics. Both sides have mastered the art of obstruction, to the point that this Congress, according NBC’s First Read, is one of the least effective in the history of the country. They quoted a congressional lobbyist who said this Congress has “enacted just 55 public laws so far this year (and 34 of them merely extended existing laws), compared with the average over the last 20 years of 148 public laws for a first full session.” That’s pathetic.

I love politics. I love the issues, watching the leaders, and even the games. But, this is not fun. It is depressing. It is dysfunctional. It is sad.

And, unfortunately, I don’t see an end in sight to this. That’s even more depressing.