Debt-jacked

TNR's Jon Chait has a pretty good piece about the debt deal. But I chuckled at this line: "Obama should have avoided the hostage scenario, but once he blundered into it, he managed to escape on relatively favorable terms." And just how might Obama have avoided Washington's version of Die Hard? Chait conveniently skips that part. Right now, the Republicans are like the fanatical Russian nationalists in Air Force One. In the movie, the bad guys (led by Gary Oldman) were disguised as journalists and presumed trustworthy. Once airborne, they whipped out the Uzi's and took over the plane. In DC, Republican leaders (disguised as the "loyal" opposition) were presumed sane. Once "airborne" during the debt talks, they too whipped out their Uzi's and took the White House (and America) hostage. But unlike President Harrison Ford, Obama couldn't cue the patriotic goose-bump-inducing soundtrack, mercilessly cut down his GOP nemesis in a blaze of gunfire and dramatically save the day. That's against the law. Which is a pity.