is he not optimistic. mike emanuel is live on capitol hill where really mike time is running out. it is sources both democratic and republic sound very pessimistic. acknowledge the calendar crunch. take a listen to her. with 23 days left to go deadline. less time to have a plan ready to be voted on. we are now entering the critical final phase of this process and as we all know, the consequences of failure are unacceptable. now, several of the experts today hinted that failure could lead to a downgrade of the u.s. a.a.a. credit rating. moody s investor services said today it would clearly be a negative if the super committee fails but would not be a decisive factor, shep? all right. they heard from allen simpson as well today? that s right. they heard from four experts who are well known for their work in terms of this deficit reduction effort and senator simpson, the