Can America get back on the right track?

A New York Times/CBS News poll released Friday found that 81 percent of Americans believe “things have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track” in the United States. It’s the highest number of people to say that since the news organizations began polling in the early 1990s, and up 12 points from the 69 percent who were dissatisfied with the state of the nation a year ago.

Who’s surprised? It’s become clear that America is probably in a recession. We’re fighting two wars, and one of them is incredibly unpopular. Gas and food prices are shooting up and the unemployment rate is climbing while wages are stagnating and home prices are falling.

One presidential candidate is talking about staying the course in Iraq and doing little to help the economy while the other two, who are proposing some changes, are bogged down in a negative fight that overshadows their messages and policy initiatives.

The questions are whether dissatisfied Americans will fight for changes that will improve America’s outlook and, if they do, whether they can overpower the Washington status quo and succeed at bringing about change.

More bad news

This week has brought some news that will only bolster the opinions of those who believe America is on the wrong track. Today the International Monetary Fund said the United States is likely in a “modest recession” and its economy will stagnate through most of 2009. Housing prices will continue to fall and the credit situation will remain difficult. That will be a drag on the world economy as well. Read about that by clicking here.

Also, Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, told Congress that, while he’s unlikely to seek another troop surge in Iraq, he wants an indefinite halt to withdrawals once those who were sent as part of last year’s surge are withdrawn by the end of July. Read about that here.

That won’t be popular with the public. The majority of Americans want out of Iraq.

We’re going to have a new president in a little more than 10 months. President Bush can do a lot of damage or good (depending on your viewpoint) in that time, but the election of a Democrat to the White House would likely change everything. So the Iraq war is in limbo.

Meanwhile, Americans are focused on the economy. The Times/CBS poll found that many Americans are floating along, not getting ahead but not in too much of a personal crisis. Many people have told me they’re worried because they can’t live on credit cards forever, or because, though they’re doing alright now, they fear the economic situation could get much worse. Many I’ve spoken with are not all that optimistic about the future.

That was also true in the poll, which found that people were less optimistic about their children’s future than in past polls. We’ve never been in such a situation – fighting two wars during a recession in such a globally connected economy. In some ways, this is uncharted territory for all of us.

What to do about it

What will Americans do about it? They need to get involved. If there’s one reason for hope, it’s that the presidential race is drawing huge numbers of previously uninvolved Americans into the process. Americans are dissatisfied with the direction of their nation, and many of them are making their voices heard.

They need to vote. They need to write letters to their elected officials. They need to become political active. They need to focus on this year’s U.S. House and Senate races as much as they do on the presidential race.

Can Americans overpower the status quo and change things? Will enough stand up that they can make a difference? Time will tell.

A version of this article was published today on the Diary of a Mad Voter blog published by the Denver Post’s Politics West and the independent Web site NewWest.net.