Well, someone needs to make some headway and Erskine Bowles has a good track record when it comes to reigning in spending in Washington. Here's hoping he can work his magic once again.

Republicans, of course, are stomping their feet over the creation of an appointed commission to, as the article below states, "tackle the federal debt."

If you look at their platforms, though, you'll find that Republicans technically favor reducing the national debt. So, what's their problem? Shocker: They still don't like our president, which means they're going to kick and scream whenever he proposes anything — no matter how much the country will benefit. Which is, you know, very patriotic of them. Anybody want some tea?

President Barack Obama is plowing ahead with a commission to tackle the federal debt despite resistance from Republican leaders.

Mr. Obama will name former Clinton White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles and former Republican Sen. Alan Simpson as co-chairmen of the commission Thursday when he signs an executive order creating the panel, an administration official said.

The commission's job will be to help bring down the federal budget deficit to 3% of gross domestic product by 2015, compared with nearly 10% today, and to propose ways to hold down the surging costs of government programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. The president will also ask the panel to look at the U.S. tax code and has not ruled out tax increases for the middle class should the commission deem them necessary.

Mr. Bowles, currently president of the University of North Carolina, brokered the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 with Republicans in Congress when he was White House chief of staff.

Read the entire Wall Street Journal article, by Jonathan Weisman, here.

Further reading: Party gridlock in D.C. feeds fear of debt crisis