Peas are all the rage when it comes to talking about the country’s fiscal woes.
You might remember that in July of 2011, when fighting over the debt ceiling, president Obama- right before he left for his 17th vacation at Martha’s Vineyard that year- complained about congressional inaction by saying that’s it time for the country “to eat its peas.”
From CBSNews:
"I've been hearing from my Republican friends for some time it is a moral imperative to tackle our debt and deficits in a serious way," Mr. Obama said. "What I've said to them is, let's go."
The president said today he would not accept a smaller, short-term deal. "We might as well do it now," he said. "Pull off the band aid. Eat our peas."
Of course the president and Congress refused to eat their peas then, preferring to put it off until after the presidential election. There were far too many sweets at the table going into an election year- and delicious pork too.
But, now the election is over. Sweets are off the table; the congress is a lame duck even if still addicted to pork. And a deal has been FINALLY struck to “tackle our debt and deficits in a serious way.”
Just wait; this ought to be really funny.
Because now we have an idea just exactly how many peas Obama meant in 2011 when he said it was time to “eat our peas.”
Ahem.
Here’s what he meant: one (1) pea.
Yum. Thanks Congress! Thanks Mr. Obama!
Now we’re too full apparently for any more peas. Glad we’ve shown how serious we are about deficit reduction too.
At least that’s the take of Rick Santelli, the editor at CNBC, who helped create the Tea Party by his famous soliloquy calling for a Tea Party in Chicago reminiscent of the one that took place in Boston in 1773.
Back then Santelli was outraged by the administration’s proposals to bailout homeowners who were behind in their mortgages. He nailed the administration on encouraging bad behavior by trying to keep people in houses they couldn’t- and still can’t- afford.
“We’re thinking about having a Chicago Tea Party in July,” shouted Santelli to cheers on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange as CNBC host Joe Kernen made comments about mob rule. “All you capitalists that want to show up to Lake Michigan, I’m gonna organize it.”
Now he’s taking on the deficit and runaway spending and the politicians who promote more reckless spending.
Earlier this year, the showman Santelli smashed melons with a large wooden mallet- ala the comedian Gallagher- to make a point to politicians about how easy it was to undertake deficit reduction.
“Smash some deficits, smash some deficits, smash some deficits,” he cried as the mallet mashed the melon meat until the juice flew.
Let’s just say that with those melons as a benchmark, Santelli is less than enamored of the newest, bestest deal out of congress and the president to reduce the deficit and cut down spending.
As a result of the deal, Santelli this week held up one pea against a white board.
He then smashed it with a hammer.
“There’s our debt smashing for the end of the year,” said Santelli comparing it to the melons. “It’s basically a pea,” he added comparing the debt to the size of the Empire State Building.
“It’s pretty much about a tax deal. We have done all of this to arrive at an arrangement on taxes [by raising taxes without cutting spending].”
No word yet if the pea is one missing from the White House.
But this much is certain: If it is, it won’t be missed by Obama.
He's already full of peas; or pea, as it were.
Seriously.
Send your pea- one (1) only- to: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. 20006.
Or to look up mailing addresses for your members of Congress go here: