It was only this morning that the newspapers and cable news networks were erupting–and the conservative bloggers smarming oodles of schadenfreude–over Barack Obama’s impending first legislative defeat. TARP funds–the big bank bailout–would never pass the Senate. He’d have to begin his presidency with a veto. Oh dear.
But, uh, TARP passed this afternoon. And Geithner is, clearly, going to be confirmed. And Bill Richardson has slipped, barely noticed, into the mists of history. I mean, if Obama keeps on having crises like these, he should breeze through the next four, no, eight years. He won’t, of course. He’ll hit turbulence. But, given their recent track record, I wouldn’t bet against my colleagues missing the real crisis when it comes.