Budget Impasse? -- Divine Intervention and Deus Ex Machina -- Not a Bakken Story

This reminds me of a Greek tragedy.

For those fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to have studied Latin, deus ex machina is a well known device to end a tragedy (as in theater).

Today, President Obama has scheduled a 10:15 a.m. EST meeting with Congressional leaders in an attempt to avoid a shutdown of the government. Close reading of the reports coming out Washington these past two weeks suggests that the ending has has already been written. [Update, 1:10 p.m. EST: no deal was reached at the White House meeting.]

Congressional leaders have been hammering this out for the past month or so, but it appears an impasse has been reached. The White House has now, like deus ex machina, invited leaders to meet with President Obama in attempt to change the ending. 

Having said that, the following caught me eye:

The shutdown talk could merely be posturing before the 10:15 a.m. meeting between President Barack Obama and congressional leaders, or it could be a sign that a deal may be out of reach for the time being.

"I don't know if we will need divine inspiration or divine interjection into this matter, but whatever it might take, I hope people of good will can come to an agreement," Democratic Senator Dick Durbin said.

I guess whether you call it "inspiration" or "interjection" is up for discussion, but "divine" is agreed upon.

*******

For all of you who have plans to travel overseas this summer, I hope you have your passports. The passport office will be one of the offices affected. However, government checks will continue to go out like clockwork. Something tells me the EPA meetings will go on as scheduled.