There was a brief burst of optimism after Barack Obama’s reelection that Democrats and Republicans would finally go the grownup route and avert the so-called fiscal cliff.

Hopes brightened again when John Boehner moved off his no-new-taxes-ever stance, agreeing to boost rates on millionaires, and Obama raised the income threshold on those who would be affected to $400,000 from $250,000. At last it seemed that rationality would prevail in Washington.

Nope.

Instead, we have Harry Reid accusing John Boehner of running a “dictatorship” and the House speaker shooting back that the Democratic majority leader “should talk less and legislate more.”