E.J. Dionne writes that Washington is out of control and big surprise Republicans are to blame:
Only one party is using shutdowns, cliffs, and debt ceilings as routine political weapons.
Oh yes, those Machiavelli lookalikes in the House and Senate GOP caucuses sure are using the debt ceiling, fiscal cliff, and sequester fights to their advantage. I mean, just look at how popular the Republicans are right now and all of the things they got from the fiscal cliff deal. Obama hasn't used the debt ceiling, fiscal cliff, and sequester to beat the drum for more tax revenue from the wealthy at all. I haven't seen him wheeling out cabinet officials at White House press conferences to liken the sequester's effects to the scenes in a Hieronymous Bosch painting and to argue that the GOP is radical and intractable and opposed to the popular policy of increasing taxes on the rich. What a political dumbbell our president is. He's just letting these Tea Party nihilists walk all over him.