When I first got to college, one of the first classes I took was accounting. Now, I'm not Einstein, but I can add and subtract, and since accounting wasn't supposed to have variables or sine curves, I figured it couldn't be that hard. Had I said that before I went to college, those would qualify as famous last words. Accounting is NOT math.
And the budget process is more akin to a Potions class at Hogwarts than to something you could put down on paper. Tax cuts, revenue increases, deferments, entitlements, and all that come together to form what has to be one of the great messes of history. Its so convoluted that it's possible to imagine that one fanciful night, someone would realize a decimal point was out of place on page three thousand, all the numbers would suddenly fall into place, and all our problems would be solved.
But finally, after much hemming and hawing, we've reached a deal. As a sign of a good compromise, neither side particularly likes this deal. No revenue increase, although the tax rate is the lowest been in anyone living's lifetime, and tax cuts of things that actually drive the economy. And because Obama is in a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation, he's gonna sign it. He's not going to like, he doesn't want to do it, and if he's already conceded he might be a one-termer, he may was well just say it.
What he needed was somebody willing to take the rap, what he got was the stereotypical smoke filled room. The President can only do so much. He was a Constitutional law professor, he knows where the lines are. But these folks are wearing him out. I hate to say it, but we abandoned him halfway through, getting excited about the Tea Party as though they were 21st century Beanie Babies, and now we're paying for it. This "austerity" plan didn't work in Japan in the 1990's, it's not working in Greece today, and now the Conservatives are forcing it down our throats here as though its the brand new electric slide. Forget hoping Obama gets re-elected, considering his competition that's not a great leap, we need to hope he still wants to lead us next time.
Considering how we've treated him, I would understand if he gave up the ghost.
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