The Politics of Pettiness

TIM GEITHNER, our secretary of the treasury who looks worried all the time and too young for the job, has made it perfectly clear; the obama administration is, absolutely, willing for the country to go over the "fiscal cliff", which means that as of the first of the new year, if an agreement is not reached, the terms of a previous agreement will kick in, we shall all have increased taxes to pay, and fewer services in return for them.

This "fiscal cliff" is nothing other than the product of a "I dare you" mentality. Both sides of the isle agreed to it, believing that they could back the other side down, and avoid the cliff, which entails spartan budget cuts to everything, when the time came. Now, the time has come.

Ironically, the republicans are quite willing to agree to a plan which would be much more to obama's liking than the fiscal cliff. But rather than compromise or surrender, and go with the republicans, the second term president, emboldened by his recent reelection, would rather play a game of stare down, and see who blinks first.

He is perfectly willing for nobody to blink, and to all go off the cliff together, because the president understands that most of the american people want to raise taxes on the wealthy and nobody else, and at the bottom of the cliff would lick wounds, rub bruises, and blame repoublicans.

Ther is a certaininherent pettiness to all politics, but this is going too far. But, come to think of it, don't we usually go too far with our political pettiness? Almost every american you meet is gonna tell you that he or she is a dog person, or a cat person. Rarely do you hear someone say that they love both equally. This is indicative (of narrow mindedness).

We americans stake out our ground, and we stand firm, come what may, the devil take the hindmost, as they used to say. To an extent, this is admirable. Beyond that, it becomes petty.

Maybe the pettiness isn't as bad as it seems. After all, its been at least several years since anyone got into a fistfight on the floor of the house or senate. But don't throw away your popcorn machine. There's more to come.