Welcome back Uncle Sam

Sixteen days later and Uncle Sam has been resuscitated on the eve of his default. After more than two weeks of needless and harmful absence, the government has returned. Let's see if will come back any more worthwhile than when it left.

In return for the damage they inflicted upon the American economy and their own image and electoral prospects, Republicans got nothing in return. Nothing. Almost literally. I believe I linked to this video clip in a previous post, but it's worth watching again. As Jon Stewart and Willy Wonka both state eloquently in this post, the tea party's loss was a severe blow. They proved themselves vapid, immature, incapable, and generally worthless, and those are just the nice descriptors. The tea party's ultimate gift to the American people in this debacle might very well be the bleak electoral prospects they have created for Republicans in next year's midterm elections.

In the end the "agreement" that we got was one that could have, should have, and would have been passed months ago had it not been for the anti-Obamacare crusade that was doomed from the start. To say that Republican placed ideology over practicality and their misguided political agenda over the needs of the country is a whale of an understatement. In fact, the bill that President Obama ultimately signed wasn't an agreement at all; it was a Republican acceptance of the president's non-negotiables that were must-dos for the country anyhow. As Stewart points out in the clip linked above, if President Obama can negotiate with most intransigent and totalitarian mullahs on the planet, but not Republicans, maybe he's not the problem. What Stewart doesn't point out is that the reason President Obama can negotiate with said mullahs is because they have something over which to negotiate: a nuclear program. Republicans had nothing. It's not that the president refused to negotiate, it's that negotiation only happens when both sides have something to bring to the table. This political battle could have ended in only one of two ways: a default or a Republican collapse, and truthfully a default would have precipitated a worse Republican collapse than the one they got by admitting defeat last night.

Now that the latest round of lunacy has ended, let's see if Congress can use the next few months to actually put together a budget and agree to future plans on taxing and spending. This is, after all, what we elect and pay them to do. Optimistic I am not, but perhaps the debacle that has made them the political spectacle worldwide will have taught the true fools on the far right what not to do next time around. Welcome back Uncle Sam. When last I saw you, you were sickly. But now you have a 2nd (or 3rd, or 4th, or 17th) chance at doing your job. Do us all a favor and actually try this time.