Scenes we'd like to see

Quote from Obama's speech today (from the White House website):

The fact is, we didn’t need a rating agency to tell us that we need a balanced, long-term approach to deficit reduction.... [nor] to tell us that the gridlock in Washington over the last several months has not been constructive, to say the least. We knew...that a prolonged debate over the debt ceiling -- a debate where the threat of default was used as a bargaining chip -- could do enormous damage to our economy and the world’s. That threat [of a U.S. default]...has now roiled the markets and dampened consumer confidence and slowed the pace of recovery.

"Question, Mr. Resident. "

"Yes?"

"Wasn't the debt-ceiling bill passed and signed a week ago?"

"I'm not sure. Being president is so hard, working from dawn until dusk to keep everything running smoothly...."

"Well, it was."

"Was that your question?"

"No, sir. My question is: Just now you said the debate over the debt ceiling -- 'where the threat of default was used as a bargaining chip' -- had 'roiled the markets and dampened consumer confidence and slowed the pace of recovery.' How can the threat of default still be a factor in the 1100-point drop in the market--or either of the other two factors you mentioned--when congress raised the debt limit by $2.4 Trillion dollars a full week ago?"