First of all it is very hot in Washington, DC, and yet those who pass themselves off as our nation's leaders, but who really are better described as its tormentors, are stuck there, rather than enjoying The Vineyard, Bozeman, Boothbay or Bohemian Grove. Words like absurd and loser  are being thrown about to describe them--certainly an improvement over terms they are more accustomed to like "almost a God" or "brilliant" or "indispensible," and of course, "the powerful." 

And why are they stuck there? They mismanaged the nation's affairs, and so, for a change, they are actually suffering something they rarely encounter in their cossetted existence-- consequences. As they pine for Tahoe or the Hamptons, scurrying about in what passes for them as hard labor, the less far gone among them may even have occasion to reflect on the arrogance, dishonesty and negligence that rendered the most powerful nation the world has known budgetless and overextended.

But there is a consequential lesson for the rest of us to draw from this weekend's burlesque on the Potomac. It is that this is the best these people can do.

As a group they have demonstrated in every way non-stop cable coverage can reveal that they are not smarter, nor wiser, nor more creative than the citizens who pay their salaries or contribute to their campaigns. They have proven lousy practitioners of the art of the possible, which is supposed to be their peculiar skill, and certainly have not exhibited any particular insight, or capacity for dealing with the complex consequences of past error.

So when they cobble something together and they and their flacks pronounce it ingenious or a masterful compromise, we can acknowledge it for what it is--patching over a failure that has, regardless, already weakened the fabric of our nation--like a bad plumber belatedly plugging a hidden leak in a botched job.

The best outcome of this pathetic demonstration of inadequacy by those who presume to govern us would be for us all to resolve that from here forward we will treat them with every last bit of the respect they deserve. When they and their tame media and anointed experts disparage this or that challenger or idea as "unserious," or jejune or simplistic remember the silly spectacle of this weekend.