The damage done

Well, although I anticipate some last minute theatrics from the attention seeking Senate TPs. it appears the fake debt crisis is over. I expect it will pass the Senate today. Admit the part of me that wanted the Dems to force the crazy TPs to own this shit sandwich is still screaming "you shoulda let em crash it." But my pragmatic side knows a default would have been worse than this capitulation, even if only marginally. As Joe Nocera explains:

"All day Monday, the blogosphere and the talk shows mused about which party would come out ahead politically. Honestly, who cares? What ought to matter is not how these spending cuts will affect our politicians, but how they’ll affect the country. And I’m not even talking about the terrible toll $2.4 trillion in cuts will take on the poor and the middle class. I am talking about their effect on America’s still-ailing economy."

Can't help but think we could have used a lot more of this kind of talk in last month or so and maybe none of this would happened. But you can't go back. If I can quote myself from my DetNews post.

I cycled through a lot of coflicting emotions yesterday. Anger that not only were these crackpots allowed to bring us to the brink of economic collapse but in the end they didn't even vote for the bill, thus forcing the Democrats to give them cover by bailing out Boehner to help him pass it. I ended up with gratitude for the Democrats who stood up and said no, this is wrong, but also to the Democrats that risked their own seats, in the full knowledge their base would hate them for caving. But I think as time passes, the angry left will come to realize they did it because they care about our country and it was the only way to save us from the Republicans who care for nothing but their own re-election bids and destroying President Obama.

I haven't read the entire bill yet. I did read the White House brief and didn't find it particularly comforting. But Bob Cesca studied it more closely and picks out positive points for liberals that did encourage me. And as he points out, the TPs didn't win as much as they think they did:

This deal masterfully accomplishes the task of kicking the can down the road for the Republicans without actually appearing so unless you really dig deep into it, and it leaves most of the details up to the next session of Congress beginning in January of 2013.

We all owe the president a great deal of respect for being willing to take the political hit in the short term to save us in the long term.

So there's that. And who knows, some good may come of it in the end. No one can foresee the future but I'm thinking once the generic spending cuts become specific, the TP and the GOPers may still suffer severe consequences for forcing us into this corner. The trick will be making them own this shit sandwich, which could happen, if the left can find a way to put aside our differences and focus on tearing apart the GOP instead of each other. Here's hoping...