Nobody is cheering the deal to raise America's debt ceiling because the whole process, played out before worldwide TV, showed the American Congress in as dysfunctional a mode as one could possibly imagine. Votes with no value except to rub salt in the other side's already-bleeding wounds. Angry words hurled at one another. Senate Majority Leader Reid not even bothering to see one of the House's bills before saying it was "dead on arrival." It was not a legislative process, it was slapstick comedy - but being played for enormous stakes that affected the entire planet.
The American public was predictably horrified. In a Washington Post-ABC News poll conducted before Obama announced the deal last Sunday, 37 percent said they saw the president as less favorable. That was double the number (18 percent) who viewed him more positively. House Speaker Boehner had a sharper drop in his image. Three times as many had deteriorated opinions of him as improved opinions (34 percent less favorable; 11 percent more so).
Nearly three-quarters of Americans offered a negative word to describe the budget negotiations. The top words were “ridiculous,” “disgusting” and “stupid.” Overall, nearly three-quarters of Americans offered a negative word. Just 2 percent had anything nice to say.
And that doesn't even account for the rest of the world, which used such words as "idiots" and "insane" to describe the affair.
So, America has its borrowing power back, but it lost a lot of good will and respect that may never be restored.
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