Everyone Agrees Deficits Are Bad

Not really, of course. Actual smart people know we should be running massively higher deficits than we are at the moment. But, in Washington, we all agree that 'too big' deficits are bad things. I think this is part of the explanation for why political journalists obsess about the subject. Since everyone agrees, it becomes uncontroversial subject, and so political journalists can, in a sense, take a side on the subject. Because it isn't actually taking a side, to them anyway. So you can go on NPR, or whatever, and say "deficits are a big problem" without any distancing or one the one handing.