Signs, signs, everywhere signs

There isn't a better metaphor for the state of Washington DC these days than the fact that the Thomas Jefferson memorial is now sinking into the swamp upon which Washington was founded and which has transformed into a swamp of an entirely different nature. Physical and political reality are both inundating Jefferson.

Up on the surface, the signs of the trouble at the Jefferson Memorial are small:

A few blacktop patches over uneven seams in some concrete. A cordoned-off section where the sea wall has slipped below the front plaza. The "tilt meter" boxes that visitors can't see unless they know where to look.

Underground, though, the problems may be huge: Slowly, almost imperceptibly, parts of the complex seem to be sinking into the mud.

Quite poetic, really.