The Expectation Game
There are a lot of folks on the political right who are hopping mad about the debt ceiling deal Speaker Kevin McCarthy agreed to.
And there are a lot of folks on the political left who are hopping mad about the debt ceiling deal President Joe Biden agreed to.
Both spitting mad, because they actually believed their respective leaders. And so avoidable.
Would Democrats be so upset had Biden not drawn a line in the sand and declared that he would not negotiate on the debt ceiling…only to then negotiate on the debt ceiling?Would Republicans be so upset had McCarthy not engineered a bill that passed the chamber taking a strong position…only to then ignore it in coming up with the compromise?
Reality would suggest that with a Republican House and a Democrat president, there would have to be a bill that disappointed both sides. Instead of preparing their people for that outcome and figuring out what few things would be deal-breakers…each postured and preened for the TV cameras and sent out fundraising pitches to capitalize on the battle.
I’m not saying there should not have been strong positions taken; indeed, unless we have fallen irretrievably into “uniparty” swamp status, there should be strong, opposite positions. But for each to take such strident stands, only to cave so dramatically—well, that’s what leads folks to throw up their hands in disgust.
And our so-called political leaders—on both sides—are doing nothing to change that view.
