Bush 2 is back (Steve Clemons)

[kpete]

Bush 2 is back

Steve Clemons points out that the attitude of the Congressional Republicans at this moment is reminiscent of their arrogance on the eve of the financial crisis, well before Obama was on the scene:



For the many weeks of pundits agonizing about what really would happen if the US defaulted, if the August 2nd date were real or fake (did it really make a difference if the date was August 3rd or August 4th?), after the deal is done -- if the deal is done -- Americans will soon develop amnesia about most of the details of the episode and move on to the next issue over which the political class and media decide to hyperventilate.

The brinksmanship over the debt ceiling, the certainty of each side's positions, the complete absence of humility over America's real economic condition and how best to improve it are the real danger sign. This is the kind of arrogance that dominated economic discussions before the recent financial crisis.

If the debt ceiling standoff was orchestrated theater -- not real -- sort of what Congress used to do each year in flamboyantly threatening to cut off trade with China by refusing to renew Most Favored Nation trade status (which was always a fake threat and eventually evolved into Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China) -- then the nation has yet again allowed itself to be duped into distraction about something not real while abandoning what mattered: the nation's wrenching jobs depression.

Jobs. Jobs. Jobs. Politicians talk about this a lot during elections -- but when they suit up and finish their workout in the Congressional gym, they get on a different track and perform lines of a script not determined by what the nation really needs but rather what drives anxiety levels up, just to be brought down with a massive blast of relief before some crisis was averted. It's like a big DC live act version of 535 Senators and Congressmen wanting to be Harrison Ford in Air Force One.

MORE:
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/07/the-real-jobs-crisis-vs-fake-debt-deal-crisis/242346/
http://prairieweather.typepad.com/big_blue_stem/2011/07/bush-2-is-back.html

AND check this out:
http://www.wtfnoway.com/