It was what is described in political circles as "a helluva weekend."
It started on Friday evening with what can only be described as a Presidential melt-down. In a press-conference regarding the impending debt-limit problems the President went from pleading to petulant to political to petty in just 25 short minutes. What didn't show up was leadership, maturity, or a serious proposal for anything other than either a Leninist storming of the Czar's palace or a guaranteed no-peek-at-performance before the next election. Neither, of course, is realistic.
That led to the rebuttal by the Speaker of the House who maturely suggested that an agreement was violated, a stop-gap debt-limit increase was totally acceptable, and serious review of the tax code and entitlements was essential. It was clear he had the votes in the House and it was implied that the stumbling block was Senate majority intransigence.
The President's summoning of the Congressional leaders to a confab on Saturday morning was fruitless, as we all expected it to be. Simply sitting at a table and pontificating for the cameras is still not leadership. The meeting was short and produced nothing.
The Big Four of the legislature then met conspicuously without a White House participant. Top leaders of both parties in both chambers took their positions. And nothing happened.
The Sunday talk shows dawned with spin performances from an array of the usual suspects. Promises were put forth that a deal might well be forthcoming by Sunday evening in time to forestall a predicted market calamity when the Asian markets and the futures exchanges began trading for the week.
The talking heads bloviated, pontificated, predicted, wailed and instructed us on how to get into our figurative economic tornado shelters.
The trading day is now three-quarters over on Monday. No debt-limit deal has been reached and the status of the sky, Chicken Little, is that the markets have shrugged.
Nothing noticeable has happened. There have been no screams in the distance of Grandma in her wheelchair being pushed off a cliff either.
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