The fiscal cliff was averted. It wasn't easy. It was messy. It was ugly. But, you could almost argue despite all the talk of failure, the Congress was still able to get something approved on that tax and budget impasse.
Even if both parties seemed very unhappy about the final product.
The House voted 257-167 for the deal, while the vote in the Senate was 89-8, both votes taking place on New Year's Day, technically after we had gone over the fiscal cliff.
If ever there was a walking advertisement for "getting your work done early," this was it in the U.S. Congress, as lawmakers went over the midnight deadline when the calendar flipped over to 2013, but fixed things about 23 hours after that.
"There's some things in there that I like, there are some things that I don't like," said Rep. Dan Boren (D-OK), one of the 172 Democrats who voted for the deal, while only 16 House Democrats voted against it.
On the Republican side, most GOP lawmakers who voted for and against the deal were united in one thought - where were the spending cuts in this agreement?
"I'm somewhat baffled with the deficit as big as it is, that the Senate continues to add additional spending," said Rep. Austin Scott (R-GA), who was one of 151 Republicans who voted against the deal, while 85 voted in favor.
"I don't think many people saw any spending cuts," said Rep. Dan Webster (R-FL), who also voted no.
The deal was a triumph for Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, who took charge of the talks after Speaker John Boehner and President Obama were unable to reach a deal.
After a fruitless weekend of negotiations with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, McConnell reached out to his old Senate colleage, Vice President Joe Biden, and the two of them did what Senate veterans have done for years - they cut a deal.
As for the President, he took a quick victory lap in the White House Briefing Room before rushing off to Air Force One, so he could fly back to Hawaii to finish out his abbreviated family vacation.
"Under this law, more than 98 percent of Americans and 97 percent of small businesses will not see their income taxes go up," the President told reporters, even as he cautioned Republicans not to force another budget crisis in coming months.
"I think, hopefully, in the New Year we'll focus on is seeing if we can put a package like this together with a little bit less drama, a little less brinksmanship, not scare the heck out of folks quite as much," the President said.
But we may well repeat this messy, bitter battle over three different issues:
* Automatic budget cuts that were to start on January 2, were delayed for two months by the fiscal cliff deal
* A debt limit increase, which will be needed by late February or early March
* The unfinished federal budget for the current fiscal year, as a temporary spending plan runs out in late March, just before Easter 2013.
"It leaves our country with three more fiscal cliffs," complained Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA).
In other words, we seem almost predestined to repeat this fiscal cliff battle - in just about 8-12 weeks.
