South By North Strategies, Ltd.

Brad DeLong explains “America’s political recession.”

Now, it is possible that Republican legislators may rebel against their leaders, arguing that they ran for office to govern, not to paralyze the government in the hope that doing so will give the party power to reign as it wishes after the next election. It is possible that Republican leaders like Representatives John Boehner and Eric Cantor and Senator Mitch McConnell will conclude that their policy of obstruction has been a failure. They might note that, although the economy remains deeply troubled and depressed in the aftermath of a financial crisis for which they set the stage, Obama’s policies have been by far the most successful of those in any major advanced country, and conclude that he has been a relatively good president, and one worth supporting.
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But don’t count on it. Right now, every senior politician in America is telling their favorites in the press that they are confident that compromise on the “fiscal cliff” will be reached before the end of December. But they are telling their favorites this because they think that pessimism now will lead to their being blamed for gridlock later.