Barry Potter

Washington Examiner political cartoonist Nate Beeler uses the cultural event of the weekend to address a real specter in public policy — the upcoming deadline for the debt-ceiling increase. Whether one actually does “expecto defaultum,” members of leadership in both parties have stressed the need to raise the limit; the question has been whether to start reforming government to avoid future increases as part of the package, or to kick that question to the next election. That prompts Beeler to contrast the fictional courage shown by three plucky teens and the people they inspire with the less-than-inspirational performance thus far in the Beltway: