Daylight

Maybe.  Obama and Boehner are dancing in the arena, getting chummy on the links and perhaps starting to move towards a real compromise, you know, one in which each sides gives in order to get.  

The latest news is that Boehner went to a secret meeting with Obama at the White House over the weekend.  If I didn't know any better I would be inclined to think the two were friends, having sleepovers and staying up late to sneak out and throw toilet paper over the Washington Monument...I hear Boehner has quite the arm.  

So it was encouraging to hear that Boehner is now open to new sources of revenue.  Meanwhile, Obama has apparently indicated that he wants even more spending cuts.  Also, hell froze over.  

While president and speaker tango together, the rest of the country waits to see if the Republican hostage crisis will end soon and Americans can breathe easier knowing that America will not default on its debt.  After all, a default would be disastrous and do exactly the opposite of what Boehner claims Republicans are trying to do: "give American businesspeople the confidence to invest in our economy."  

So Boehner, like all sensible Republicans and Americans knows the importance of raising the debt limit. And undoubtedly, after all his posturing to the Tea Party, he has realized that raising taxes on rich people or closing loopholes that allow the super-rich to avoid taxes does nothing to harm the economy.  The fun facade of "no new taxes" seems to be crumbling under the weight of the arithmetic heaped upon it.  It was fun to imagine a world in which we could eliminate the debt by taking the axe to every non-military program paid for by the government.  But it seems Boehner has either decided that the political winds have changed or he is just sick of being dragged through the mud by the Tea Party.  

Either way, today's developments are positive for America.  I am curious to see what Obama and Boehner can come up with.  Will the final budget be a bipartisan creation?  Will Obama fold and give up way too much?  Will Boehner actually agree to higher taxes?  Talk about reality television drama!

I have faith in the President, and a growing respect for John Boehner, and I do believe that the two of them will find a way to put our nation on sound financial footing without destroying the economy.