Let me finish tonight with this.
This fiscal cliff, I'm afraid, ain't no bungee jump. What goes down doesn't by necessity come back up. This is why I am warmed to know the president is working here for an early deal—one before Christmas.
This country needs to get back on its feet. We went through financial chaos under Dubya. President Obama came in to right things. He's been doing it, gradually getting us to forget how bad things were. Fortunately for him, the voters still remember how bad they were. It's one reason they didn't blame Obama for the weak economy; they blame Dubya.
This isn't about right or left; it's about being smart and not putting the country at risk for ideological game. That's what Dubya and his crowd did. I want President Obama to do what he, from the looks of things, is doing: get this deal done right and get it done on time.
He knows that failing to cut this deal on schedule is a risk of unclear dimension. Nobody knows the whirlwinds we may have to reap if it's not cut.
One thing for certain is there's no guarantee that a huge drop in faith by the world markets will be followed by a quick rebound. As I said: this is a cliff, not a bungee jump.