The reaction to Friday's announcement by Standard & Poors that the ratings agency was downgrading U.S. Government debt only showcased exactly what the S&P rationale was for their move, that the endless bickering of the two major political parties is standing in the way of action on the budget.
"The political brinksmanship of recent months highlights what we see as America's governance and policymaking becoming less stable, less effective, and less predictable than what we previously believed," the S&P statement read.
The S&P chided Congress for basically nibbling around the edges in the recent budget and debt limit deal, saying it doesn't come close to the fiscal medicine that's needed.
"The plan envisions only minor policy changes on Medicare and little change in other entitlements, the containment of which we and most other independent observers regard as key to long-term fiscal sustainability," the statement read.
Republicans were only happy to trumpet that side of the equation.
"As S&P noted, reforming and preserving our entitlement programs is the ‘key to long-term fiscal sustainability,'" said Speaker John Boehner.
Democrats meanwhile looked at the same S&P statement and said it was evidence that tax increases must be part of any long term budget deficit deal.
"That is why the President pushed for a grand bargain that would include all of these elements and require compromise and cooperation from all sides," said White House Press Secretary Jay Carney.
The divisions were especially obvious in social media circles this weekend, as my Twitter and Facebook accounts became the perfect testing ground for how each side reacted.
For example on Saturday, I dropped quotes from Democratic and Republican lawmakers on how they saw the politics of the S&P downgrade.
And like the proverbial laboratory rats, those who were more disposed to one side followed right along with a quote they liked or dropped a verbal atom bomb on the other side over a quote they thought was dead wrong.
Pretty normal behavior in politics.
So when people ask me why the Congress is so divided, the answer is very easy: Americans are too.
And I often remind listeners and readers that it's been this way since the beginning. If you remember, we had Federalists and Anti-Federalists.
The names may have changed, but the coin still has two sides in American politics in 2011.
