Congress and Obama now must face the consequences of the budgetary agreement they made in 2011 even as they had no intention of honoring. So it’s off the fiscal cliff we go. They kicked the can down the road for 2 years and now, surprise, must honor it. The economy may go off a cliff because of the continued cynical ineptitude of Congress and Obama. They could have settled the budget fight months ago if they’d acted like adults and were elected representatives who gave a hoot about their constituents. But instead they’ve waited until the last possible moment to try to make a deal, complete with the usual gorilla chest-pounding, filled with sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Both sides blame the other for not finding a way to kick the can again. Neither side really expected to go through with this reform. It was all for political show. It was political theater. It was all a charade to fool the rubes back home. “We have a solution to the deficit. We’ll begin to implement it on January 1, 2013. Trust us.”
Orcs v. Goblins: Crazed Republicans turn on each other in ugly fiscal cliff battle
President Obama is comfortable with goblins, and is often secretly thought to be one of them, as Bruce Barlett recently explained in the Fiscal Times. They like him okay, too.