Suburbs of Our Discontent

Since it's looking like these guys are not going to be able to figure out how to avoid the Fiscal Cliff by midnight, I think it's time that Obama turn to Act four, scene 6 of King Lear. (That's right: I'm not just an English professor--I'm a highly trained political consultant.)

That's the scene where Edgar, posing as Poor Tom, convinces his blind father Gloucester that he's standing on the edge of a cliff when he really isn't. Then, after Gloucester thinks he's fallen off the cliff, Edgar comes back as a gentleman and tells Gloucester that he saw the whole thing from afar, and that it's a miracle he didn't die. Especially since he saw a devil standing up there talking to him. The gods must have spared him for a reason. They want him to bear his suffering out.

Fake fall off of cliff = Patient acceptance of painful circumstances and loss of power

Now the question is, where can Obama get a Tom O' Bedlam outfit on New Year's Eve?