Something Extra: Why Did Politicians Head Home for the Holidays?

MIAMI (CBS4) - The Three Stooges and the Keystone Cops... fiction provides many apt comparisons to today's reality in Washington.

First, the House passes a bill, extending the payroll tax cut for a year and extending long-term unemployment benefits.

But the Senate didn't like how the House paid for it and passed its own bill, with strong bipartisan support, but only extending the tax cut for two months.  Senators got out of Dodge fast, heading home, making the House take it or leave it.

House Republicans, fond of saying no, said no and told the Senate to come back and negotiate.  Democratic Senate leader Harry Reid said forget it, our way or the highway.

And the President, who first demanded a year-long extension in September, now is happy with only two-months, demonizing House Republicans even though they did much of what he initially wanted.

Again, Washington seems to postpone every difficult decision: deficit cutting, the Keystone pipeline, now this.

And don't forget, while we all like a tax cut, this one means taking money from Social Security, a program that's deeply in trouble.

Where's the leadership?