In Don Marquis’s classic satirical book, Archy and Mehitabel, Mehitabel the alley cat asks plaintively, “What have I done to deserve all these kittens?”

That seems to be the pained reaction of the Obama administration to the financial woes that led to the downgrading of America’s credit rating for the first time in history.

There are people who see no connection between what they have done and the consequences that follow. But Barack Obama is not likely to be one of them. He is a savvy politician who will undoubtedly be satisfied if enough voters fail to see a connection between what he has done and the consequences that followed.

 

To a remarkable extent, he has succeeded, with the help of his friends in the media and the Republicans’ failure to articulate their case. Polls find more people are blaming the Republicans for the country’s financial problems than are blaming the president.

Why was there a financial crisis in the first place? Because of runaway spending that sent the national debt up against the legal limit. But when all the big spending bills were being rushed through Congress, the Democrats had such an overwhelming majority in both houses of Congress that nothing the Republicans could do made the slightest difference.

 

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/274020/pyrrhic-victory-thoma...