The always astute Tom Schaller has an article over at Larry Sabato's Crystal Ball discussing the unusually large contingent of current and former House members in this year's Republican presidential primaries, in which he makes this observation:

In fact, recent history actually suggests that losing an early-career bid to win a seat in the House of Representatives may be the best way to clear a path to the Oval Office. Though they didn’t realize it at the time, the three most recent presidents probably saved their political careers from dead-ending in the House by losing: Bill Clinton (AR-3) in 1974; George W. Bush (TX-19) in 1978; and Barack Obama (IL-1) in 2000.

The Washington Post has a new poll out today that shows the widespread disgust with Washington you'd expect to see. The number of people who have confidence in Washington's ability to handle the economy has plunged, and nobody comes out looking good. To Republicans, this might seem like mission accomplished. As the anti-government opposition party, they can use obstructionism and blackmail to destroy government's ability to function, then turn to the voters and say, "See? We told you government doesn't work! Now vote for us!"

This afternoon, Terry Gross had an interesting interview with Hugh Herr, who runs a lab at MIT that designs artificial limbs. Herr is also a user of his designs; both his lower legs were amputated due to frostbite from a mountain climbing incident when he was a teenager. Herr argues that his artificial legs are superior to natural legs in many ways, particularly since he has multiple pairs tailored to different uses. But here's what's really provocative:

In an old episode of The Simpsons, Homer discovers that he'll have to pay an extra $5 in taxes to support a bear patrol. "It's the biggest tax increase in history!" he shouts.

If his press conference this afternoon was any indication, President Obama wants the world to know that American debt is still safe. “The markets continue to believe that our status is AAA. … Warren Buffet said that if there were a quadruple-A rating, he’d give us that.”

While Obama disputes the downgrade, he doesn’t actually take issue with Standard and Poor’s assessment of our political system. As he put it, the United States doesn’t need S&P to tell us that “using the debt ceiling as a threat” would be disastrous to our economy, or that Washington gridlock hasn’t been “constructive.”

The debt-ceiling debacle had Democrats and Republicans arguing over tax breaks and spending cuts on social programs like Medicare and Social Security. But, under the radar, both parties put higher education on the chopping block once again.