Below is the last paragraph from Brian Goldsmith's article in The Atlantic.
The entire article is worth reading, but it's the last paragraph that brought it all home for me.
The truth is that because Speaker Boehner cannot move on taxes (either because his
caucus won't let him, or he believes in cutting taxes to pre-New Deal levels), there is no deal. Because Speaker Boehner linked the debt ceiling to a deal, America is on the brink of a default that would impose a stealth tax increase -- in the form of higher interest rates -- on every American. And the country's top priorities (initiatives to promote more jobs and faster growth) have been ignored by a Congress obsessed with shrinking government. Does this mean politicians can't govern? Or that everybody puts politics first? No, it does not. President Obama and Sen. Coburn could make a deal today. This is not a Washington problem; it is a House Republican problem. And commentators who are obsessed with balance should remember good journalism is not "Republicans say the sky is blue, Democrats say the sky is red, experts disagree." It is reporting -- without fear or favor -- what is actually happening. It means substituting moral clarity for moral equivalence.
"The American people will not tolerate a clean increase in the debt limit." - Rep. John Boehner (R-OH), 23 July 2011
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