“To be blunt, I sometimes wonder if people in Washington ever passed ninth-grade civics”

That's a quote by Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee at the National Governor's Association meeting earlier this month, speaking about how Congress and the White House are intruding on the states. Governors are angry. They're angry about the federal government cutting back funding and passing more mandated programs, about gas prices, their National Guards, immigration, and the general discontent with the direction of the nation.

"The national mood is pretty sour out there towards Congress ... and I think it's getting worse, because people are just getting frustrated. They recognize the tremendous needs, and they don't see anybody stepping forward or a party stepping forward to getting it done," said former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson, a Republican and four-term governor of Wisconsin, who spoke to the NGA Aug. 5 about reforming the nation's health care system.

Gee, and that came from a Republican. It seems it isn't only the "angry left" that's angry. A lot of extreme right wingers enjoy painting us as the "angry left." I find that interesting because if that's true an awfully lot of Americans have become angry leftists. That certainly doesn't bode well for them does it?

The latest flashpoint for Governors is over control of their National Guards. This is especially poignant as we come to the anniversary of Katrina when so much of the Louisiana Guard was serving in Iraq instead of being where they were most needed.

Governors' most recent complaint is language in a defense authorization bill, recently passed by the U.S. House, that would allow the president to mobilize National Guard troops without consulting governors.

Of course many Governors are also up for election this year. I can understand their frustrations. We're all angry and frustrated at this federal government.