The view from Atlanta: Fleeting relief, deeper disgust

Almost all believed — rightly — that Congress would forge a deal at the very last minute, but in a way that only postponed another showdown. And they were nearly united in disgust at this slow-motion-crisis method of governing.

“It’s a pretty chicken way out,” said Raymond Wilke, an engineer and political independent from Johns Creek, as he headed to work as a department director for the city of Atlanta.

“I think it’s crazy,” echoed Cora Champion, a federal underwriter and Lithonia resident.

The 11th-hour deal came as no surprise to those with eyes trained on the stock market: They noted that the Dow Jones Industrial Average fluctuated but remained near record highs even as Congress convulsed and the debt ceiling deadline drew nigh.

That’s well and good, some said, but there’s still plenty to fear — absent an extreme makeover of politics-as-usual.

“I guess I’m amazed that we’re celebrating this,” said Dorsey Farr, an economist at the investment firm of French, Wolf and Farr, citing a surge in the stock market Wednesday morning on news of a possible deal.

“From what I can tell, we have pushed the government shutdown through January, and the debt ceiling through February. In exchange for that we’re going to agree to some sort of a budget conference? Which is what you’re supposed to do anyway?”

Emily Sanders, managing director of United Capital’s Atlanta office, said investors’ mood is sour even if the numbers are sweet. “Quite a few of our clients are disgusted and disappointed at what has been going on in Washington,” Sanders wrote in an email. “No one likes uncertainty.”

So if most everybody agrees that the fighting should stop, why does it persist? Because many on each side believe it’s the other side that needs to bend — as interviews Wednesday with metro Atlantans demonstrated once again.

“Honestly, I think the president needs to start understanding,” said Michele Marks, a social worker who lives in Acworth. She would have been OK with not raising the debt ceiling until the White House came around. “It’s almost always that presidents have been willing to negotiate. Why not now?”

But David Campbell of Conyers, a finance manager at a bank, blamed tea party Republicans for “trying anything they can to stop any progress by this administration.”

Tracey Williams, a consultant from Lithonia, said she blames both sides. She wasn’t panicking about her own money, she said, because she expected a resolution, “and I think it’s going to be at the very last minute.” However, she said, it’s not all good.

“I’m not sure if putting on a band-aid to come back to it a couple months from now is really going to help,” she said. “They need to come to a permanent decision.”

Wilke, the Johns Creek independent, was worried enough about the impact of a default that he welcomed even a temporary accord. “We need to back off from the brink, even if we kick the can down the road,” he said. That done, he said, Congress must get serious about trimming spending. “Entitlements are going to sink us,” he said.

Terry Blum, a professor of organizational behavior at Georgia Tech and director of the Institute for Leadership and Entrepreneurship, has been thinking a lot about Washington lately.

“I’d like to see Congress take the perspective of serving stakeholders,” she said. “I mean there’s 435 people in the House. Another 100 in the Senate. You’re going to have variation. …

“I don’t know what the alternative to negotiation is, because you can’t get exactly what you want all the time.”

The lessons go for everyone on all sides, she said. Bottom line: “Just grow up.”