Debt Deal's Winners and Losers

The debt-deal dust has yet to settle, but that's not stopping anyone from analyzing its political consequences. In the Washington Post, Chris Cillizza notes the winners:

• Mitch McConnell was “the Mariano Rivera of the debt deal. He waited until the game was in its final moments, came onto the field and helped close things down.”
• The Tea Party showed its sway, driving John Boehner to delay his bill and “add conservative sweeteners to get the 217 votes he needed.”

• President Obama may not have scored with the left, but in 2012, he’s aiming for moderates and independents. “And those fence-sitters love compromise in almost any form.” (Click to hear from two pundits who disagree.)
• David Wu: “Has a member of Congress forced to resign amid a sex scandal ever drawn less media attention?”

Among the losers:

• Congress just keeps sinking in the public estimation, particularly “after this high-profile demonstration of brinkmanship and intransigence.”
• Gang of Six: “The group was supposed to put lie to the idea that true bipartisanship—in which both sides give somewhat equally—was dead.” It didn’t work.
• Liberals: No revenue? Possible Medicare cuts? “There’s not much for the ideological left to celebrate.”

Click for more of Cillizza's winners and losers. (More Mitch McConnell stories.)