The Congressional supercommittee was not very super. In fact, its lack of action was disgraceful and irresponsible. Our elected officials, who earn a great deal of money and power in their positions, forgot what their real job is supposed to be: Making legislative decisions that benefit the American people.

They came to no agreement, and failed to solve the huge debt problem hanging over our country. Instead of working for the good of the American people, both political parties and the president abdicated their responsibilities. They seem more concerned about their own hard-line positions, and being re-elected in November 2012, than about the well-being of our citizens.

Congress has fallen in popularity in the eyes of most Americans. A month ago, polls showed that approval of Congress had fallen to 9 percent. If possible, it is even lower now. Yet in spite of this, most people keep voting to re-elect their non-performing representatives and senators.

The Supercommittee was set up to help resolve the debt crisis, because the House and Senate could not agree on legislation to reduce the deficit. The supercommittee was given a mandate to reduce $1.2 trillion from the federal debt. Congress agreed to give its supercommittee this responsibility, which most people believed would be effective, because of the potential high cost of failing to come to an agreement.

Without an agreement, automatic cuts would go into effect, half from domestic programs, and half from the military. These cuts would be across the board, instead of based on need and performance.

Besides casting blame on each other, no bipartisan compromise was offered to help solve the deficit or prevent the automatic cuts. Both political parties, and the president, failed to lead us to a reasonable solution.

The Democrats wanted to raise taxes along with making future spending cuts. The Republicans refused to either consider tax increases on wealthy Americans or cancel the Bush tax cut extensions. The Republican members did offer to close down tax loopholes, interest deductions, bailouts and subsidies, to increase revenues from businesses and taxpayers. The Democrats rejected those offers. Compromise seemed to be a dirty word.

Republicans said it was not a revenue problem but a spending cut problem. They blamed Democrats for failing to cut wasteful or outdated entitlement programs. Republicans wanted the Bush tax cuts to be extended beyond 2012, and Democrats wanted to raise taxes on wealthy Americans. Both sides needed some give and take, to forge an acceptable debt solution.

The president needed to exert some leadership on this, too, and he chose not to get involved. He might have been criticized no matter what he did, but he is our elected leader, and this was a time when he needed to be in charge.

The president needs to formulate a budget and have the Senate pass it. No government budget has been set for more than 900 days by this administration. This should not be tolerated any longer.

If the budget issues don’t get resolved, the impasse could threaten the extension of unemployment insurance and the payroll tax deduction granted for employees. The Bush tax cuts will expire at the end of 2012, so taxes could be increased substantially for everyone. All these problems could throw us into a deeper and longer economic depression.

We need leadership from the White House. We need leadership from Congress. We need all of our elected officials to put political posturing aside and concentrate on matters for the benefit of the American people.

Leadership is needed because Americans are frustrated with their government. The debt trigger takes place with automatic cuts on spending in January 2013. Many entitlement programs could be cut back or eliminated, and defense budgets drastically reduced, to reach the $1.2 trillion goal.

Cutting back on spending for the long term should be our main priority, but poor short-term decisions could reduce jobs and sour our economy. No matter what side we are on, we all want our economy to work well, and lift our entire nation.

We need to think about the political leadership that will represent us in 2012. Whichever party wins next year’s election will probably see the outcome as a mandate for its own approach to spending cuts and taxes. That is why your vote really counts in the coming primaries, and in the general election next November.

— Bernard Featherman is a business columnist for the Journal Tribune and former president of the Biddeford-Saco Chamber of Commerce.