D Day

It is D Day in Washington--Deal Day, or there's no time left for Congress to act before this country sinks into the economic abyss.  Only a very simple bill just raising the debt ceiling--the kind of bill that is normally passed to raise the debt ceiling as it has been raised every single time before--would then be possible.

There's no point in repeating stories about what did or didn't happen on Thursday, or what might be in or not in any supposed deal that might or might not be close.  There isn't anything that hasn't been denied, whether it's true or not.

In a few hours from now, President Obama is scheduled to talk about the situation in a town hall meeting in Maryland.  The Senate is expected to consider the House's exercise in symbolic surrealism and vote it down, which supposedly clears the way for the parties to make a real deal.  It's likely to be a long day.