DC politicians wants props for not taking the entire week off for Thanksgiving

Be impressed because DC is working!

In a headline that could only have meaning inside the DC bubble, Buzzfeed editors made a routine article about negotiations for the “fiscal cliff” sound somehow impressive.
It’s not.
There is absolutely nothing sensational about the actual article, which is reporting on the latest discussions about the supposed fiscal cliff problem.
However, we’re all supposed to be impressed that President Obama’s and GOP House Speaker John Boehner’s teams are working this week to find a resolution for the so-called “fiscal cliff”, otherwise known in reality world as an “austerity bomb,” instead of just taking the entire week off for Thanksgiving, unlike most Americans who get a day off, maybe two.

I doubt many are going to be impressed that Washington has graciously lowered itself to our level, and deigned to work during a week that no one in the country gets off but Washington politicians and the unemployed.  There’s a reason why the overwhelming majority of Americans dislike Congress and give them consistently low approval ratings, and it’s because they think they’re slumming it when they’re simply doing what the rest of us have to do every day.

 

Should we really be impressed that the political class is taking a break from taking a break, and actually working for it’s money?  It’s not like they’re not well compensated, making upwards of $200,000 a year, and enjoying such perks as the best healthcare in America, and a retirement plan that none of us could ever hope to see.

To be completely fair to the journalist who wrote the story, there’s nothing unusual in the actual article – she did a fine job.  But in typical Buzzfeed style, someone wanted to hype the story as something special, when it’s not.  And that only feeds the notion that it is special when Washington works an honest week like the rest of us.
And maybe it is. But it shouldn’t be.