Debt limit raised

I've been quiet during the final hours of the debt debate - not knowing the eventual shape of the deal that would be forged. I wasn't against the Boehner plan - but didn't like the balanced budget amendment thrown in at the end. I also didn't like the need to almost immediately revisit the budget limit again once passage was over. But other than that, the proposal did not seem that different than Harry Reid's proposal in the Senate. It seems like a lot of split hairs to fight over so vigorously. I guess everybody was jockeying to call the end result a "victory."

I also don't mind the final deal. It doesn't cut a lot. It demands a congressional committee to come up with the real cuts. And it allows an up or down vote on those. That's fine. If they need that kind of structure to get controversial things done, than so be it. I guess hard decisions are nearly impossible to make in Washington.

Here is my score of the participants:

The Republicans: It's hard to lump them together, as I feel there is a major split here amongst those who favored compromise and those who didn't. So I won't score them as a group.

The Democrats: They came out fine, even though they caved in a major way in the end. But that's OK with the people, so I think they'll be fine.

The Republicans who favored compromise: Thank you. We need some compromise in government.

The Tea Partiers: It's hard to like them. They are infuriating. But they also are dragging the country to cutting spending, which is needed in the long term. So I give them a grudging show of support for moving the focus of the debate rightward. But I feel they are going about it all wrong in many ways. Why focus on current spending? Why focus on next year's spending or even this decade's spending? We need long-term entitlement and Medicare reform. So why back away from that deal and force the country to something less worthwhile. I think the tea partiers in their stubbornness missed the grand bargain out of spite.

President Obama: Believe it or not, I think he came out fine. I didn't need a detailed budget out of him. I needed the spirit of compromise. And I got that. There was no question in my mind that he would cave to whatever deal Congress came up with in the end. And I placed most of the onus on Congress to solve this problem. That's their job. It's the House's job to lead the way. Obama did what he had to do.

So in the end there really were no clear winners or losers. Perhaps that's the way Washington muddles through. It's awfully distracting though, during the mess of a process we have. And now everybody is going to hunker down and start saving for retirement. I don't see how that helps our immediate economic prospects.

But I look forward to seeing what that Congressional committee comes up with by Thanksgiving.