It's kind of like how the AF can make life suck so much, that when they take a couple of steps back in the direction of normal, it seems like a huge win (see the "what has improved in the AF thread.)
Congress has made such an epic clusterfuck of things lately, that any cooperation at all is being hailed as a huge victory, regardless of how shitty the end result actually is. If not for my complete lack of faith in any actual ability of congress to develop a coherent strategy, it would seem like they actually executed a savvy strategy.
Entitlement benefits continue their upward trend, at the expense of those very few who actually make the sacrifice to guarantee that the majority can continue to receive benefits from their government. Spending isn't really cut, taxes actually do go up, and the deficit sees no immediate relief. This should be no surprise, because it is what the majority wants. It is what they voted for, after all. Like the saying goes, you can't fix stupid. It looks like the scales have tipped, and the majority of Americans now fall into that "stupid" category.