OCTOBER 17, 2013

Well, it's over and the world did not come to an end.  Some of us, in fact, had trouble watching it--it was hard to spot.  The mailman kept coming to my building; cops were on the streets, directing traffic, whatever; nobody told the Army to go home; the  banks stayed open, cashed checks, took deposits and all that.

Still, it was a sort of shutdown I guess.  President Obama was certainly right when he said we don't need those.  He was right too when he noted that pricky partisanship in Congress--not just between parties but among factions seem to be at an all time high and is one of the reasons we get into these messes.

The radical Republicans come to mind, of course, and some of them must have thought they'd won something at first. They didn't except maybe new lustre for not understanding very well how the game is played.

So will things improve?  The president listed three areas in which he hoped Congress would act--the budget, immigration, and a farm bill.  What they do next should tell us how much, if anything, Congress has learned.  Don't be too optimistic.  I'm not.