Phil Collins - I Don't Care Anymore

I've been hanging out with my 3 year-old niece this week, awaiting the birth of her new baby brother or sister. While the little one remains stubbornly coy about meeting his or her family, I've had the chance to observe my niece and her friends on various playdates and it occurred to me that the Beltway Bubble is a lot like dealing with a toddler: they crave structure and consistency, yet think they are the center of the universe. They are afraid of change, strangers and threats to the power structure as they understand it, although paradoxically they tend to be enthralled with whomever is louder than they are. When anything happens that they feel jeopardizes their protected little world, they melt down. They act out. And they generally make life miserable for all the adults just trying to get things done.

So all this sturm und drang about the "professional left" and the dismissal of attempts at real change is all about the Beltway status quo doing their best toddler-esque meltdown in the face of the unfamiliar. It's also why it's just the same people week after week on these Sunday shows. New voices, different points of view are threatening.

And frankly, I tend to want to say to these Beltway types the same thing I do with my niece: I know this isn't the way you're used to things, but I don't care any more. Don't get me wrong, I say it lovingly and acknowledge her discomfort. But I know what's best and I'm not about to alter that to make comfortable someone who shouldn't be in charge in the first place. Yes, I'm different than my sister in my approach to parenting, but once she got past the initial shock of a different way, my niece has responded positively to this new environment. And so it is the way with the Beltway denizens. We just need an adult in charge who is comfortable enough to assert him/herself and weather the inevitable tantrums. Both the child and the country would be better for it.

ABC's "This Week" - Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn.; former Gov. Jon Corzine, D-N.J.; Laura D'Andrea Tyson, member of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board; Martin Regalia, chief economist at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

CBS' "Face the Nation" - Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine; Gov. Ed Rendell, D-Pa.; Ed Gillespie, former Republican Party chairman.

NBC's "Meet the Press" - Gen. David Petraeus, top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan.

NBC's "The Chris Matthews Show" - Panel: Howard Fineman, Norah O'Donnell, Kelly O'Donnell, John Heilemann. Topics: Will Barack Obama's Luck in His Weak GOP Opposition Hold for 2012? What Investigations Would Top the GOP's List if it Won Control of the House This Fall?

CNN's "State of the Union" - Reps. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., Peter King, R-N.Y., and Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y.

CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" - So just how troubled IS the U.S. economy? And what can fix it? Fareed asks Jeffrey Sachs, the man the NY Times has called "the most important Economist in the World". And Sachs has answers. Then, it's been a scorcher of a summer in the U.S., one-third of Pakistan is under water, fires burn across Russia and Europe is flooding. What is going on? A panel of climate experts, including Jeffrey Sachs, who is also the director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, discuss whether global warming is upon us and what we should -- or shouldn't -- do about it.

"Fox News Sunday" - Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Jack Reed, D-R.I.; Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics.

So what's catching your eye this morning?