The super-optimist take on the super-committee

To the surprise of nobody I read, the super-committee is said to be focusing on how best to present complete failure.

Since this was expected all along, why create a "super"-committee? Much of our political leadership is incompetent, but many have a few functional staffers. So why bother?

The super-optimist view is that this was all a magic trick. Magicians draw attention to the right hand, while the left hand does the real work.

Perhaps the super-committee's only function was to distract the masses, while the real work was done elsewhere. Or else-when, such as around the time the Bush tax cuts expire.