The congressional deficit reduction committee proved to be more woeful than “super,” sending Americans’ confidence in their government and the economy into a funk just in time for the holidays.

President Obama and the leaders of both parties on Capitol Hill also deserve part of the blame, but so too do the voters who continue to put ideological purity ahead of a concern for the common good in choosing those who will represent them in Washington.

If the pattern continues in 2012, it won’t be long before this country is in the same sorry fix as those debt-laden Eurozone nations whose problems have also been acting as drag on the long-awaited recovery here.

The president has proved himself incapable of bridging the divide between Democrats and Republicans, or convincing a majority of voters that the path he recommends is best suited to getting the nation out of its current doldrums.

Of course, there is nothing to say the White House and Congress won’t reach agreement on a deficit- reduction package between now and when the $1.2 trillion in automatic cuts — some of which could be particularly devastating to businesses and nonprofit institutions here in the Bay State — are supposed to take effect in 2013. But based on the experience of the last several election cycles, compromise would appear to be elusive.

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., a member of the so-called supercommittee, made a last- ditch effort to forge an agreement to, in his words, “do something big, bold and balanced” to address the deficit.

But in the end, those on the right were unwilling to approve the tax measures necessary to increase revenues, while their counterparts on the left spurned the cuts to entitlement programs needed to make a real dent in government spending.

Kerry’s Bay State colleague, Sen. Scott Brown, said in the wake of the collapse in negotiations that “finger-pointing and partisan politics will not solve our debt crisis.”

We agree there should be less partisanship, but it’s important for voters to identify the culprits behind the committee’s colossal failure at accomplishing its assigned task.

Sadly, Obama’s ineptness in this matter has been equaled only by that of the Republican field in making the case to replace him. Little wonder the lingering recession has many voters on the verge of emotional depression these days.

— The Salem (Mass.) News