A few odds and ends from the week just past.

Well, what do you know, our credit agencies insist your sucky life must get suckier.

Over the last year, one phrase has continually popped up to justify a lack of investment to help create jobs and grow the US economy – “economic certainty.” This phrase was used to justify and praise the extension of the Bush/Obama tax cuts in December. It was used for the Debt Ceiling increase. It is being used to justify the Super Committee efforts and the push for another tax holiday for corporations on their overseas profits.

Because of that failure to finger, and a striking lack of proactive ideas in general, Obama’s Monday White House matinee served up a nothing-burger deluxe—not at all rare these days, I’m afraid, and also not well done. He wasn’t selling the steak, he wasn’t selling the sizzle, and he wasn’t telling a very good story in structural terms, either.

But the president very much needs to tell a story—to construct a narrative—because he very much needs to sell something: himself.

I have been saying for a long time now that President Obama is the world’s worst negotiator and has absolutely no interest in fighting for progressive principles. I didn’t make this up out of the whole cloth. I voted for the guy and I desperately wanted him to succeed. But my job is to cover politics and when you cover Obama all you see is him running for cover.

So, I guess it has been a rather eventful week in the world economy and the lives of the Beltway Village Idiots Politicians, Pundits, and Courtiers. I’ll let Paul Krugman and Jane Hamsher do the honors of eviscerating the Standard & Poor downgrade of the US credit rating but do want to add my 2¢ in agreement that supposed neutral arbiters who sold their souls and “independent analysis” for the banksters crappy mortgage based securities should be well advised to STFU rather than interject themselves politically.

By turning our democracy into a game of high-stakes poker, Congressional Republicans—with the support of the President of the United States, 95 Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives and 45 Democrats in the U.S. Senate—not only pushed through draconian austerity measures that will fall like a ton of bricks on our struggling economy, they managed to twist the terms of debate toward achieving their long-standing goal to “shrink government” by severely reducing or eliminating social programs that are vital to the health and economic well being of millions of middle class and low-income families.

Quinnipiac released their Florida poll numbers on the President and the debt ceiling bill, and they do not bode well for his 2012 chances in the swing state. His approval among Independents went from 42% last Wednesday through Sunday to 33% from Monday through Tuesday, while disapproval shot up from 52% to 61%. When asked to describe how they feel about the deal, more Independents said they were “angry” (23%) than either Republicans or Democrats.

There should be no doubt that one of the most dangerous aspects of this current debt ceiling deal, is that it set a precedent for Republicans turning every future debt ceiling increase in the future into another hostage situation to force spending cuts.

The White House re-election team is spinning desperately to both change the subject from the debt limit bill and divert attention from its failure to address any real problem the country faces.

The President’s handlers would have us believe the bill was both necessary and good for the economy. But if that is true, why are there no economists or politicians standing behind the President, applauding as he signs the bill?