I know this comes as a complete shock to you, given the past success in passing budgets during this administration … oh, wait …

The Obama administration and a group of Republican senators abandoned efforts Thursday to hammer out a budget deal and avoid a showdown over the national debt, saying they had failed to resolve their long-standing dispute over taxes.

“It’s very evident that there just isn’t common ground at present and we’ve all agreed there’s no reason for these talks to continue,” Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said after attending the group’s final session at the White House.

Asked what happens next, Corker said, “I have no idea.”

Unfortunately, I do.  That is if history is any guide.  Politics.  There’ll be a “war” over raising the ceiling of the national debt which Republicans will eventually lose.  The Republican House will pass a budget that will die in the Democratic Senate.  And we’ll again wander through the year with government funded through continuing resolutions but no plan.  In the meantime both sides will complain about each other and how the other side is the source of all spending problems.

Did I miss anything?

The end of the talks comes just over a week before Congress is to return from its summer break to confront a series of imminent deadlines, including the risk of a government shutdown Oct. 1 and potential default on the national debt a few weeks after that.

President Obama and his team began meeting with eight GOP senators earlier this summer in hopes of reaching an agreement to raise the $16.7 trillion debt limit and replace sharp automatic budget cuts known as the sequester.

So prepare for the usual political circus and brinksmanship.  Prepare for the propaganda war aided and abetted by a compliant White House press corps.  And prepare for more spending, a higher debt ceiling and the usual whining from the usual subjects about how they tried but couldn’t do the job.

Cynical?

Not really.  As I said, history is my guide.

~McQ