Officials' procrastination reflects ours

Life, liberty -- the pursuit of procrastination: Doesn't anyone do anything without a deadline anymore?

Not so you'd notice in Washington, not this weekend anyway. Not as President Obama and the supposed grown-ups in the House and Senate tussle endlessly over lifting the debt limit. In calmer times, this was considered a clerical formality. But that didn't offer sufficient opportunity for acrimony, bitterness and delay. So now the debt-limit deadline's being pushed to the drop-dead date and beyond while the U.S. economy is battered and uncertainty reigns.

People still ask: What's the rush?

Delay as a core principle of behavior hasn't taken hold just in Washington. We're expert delayers around here. How long have we waited to send LIRR trains into Grand Central? How long did we shrug while our job base shriveled up? How long have we stuck with our '50s concept of suburbia while smart young people keep leaving? How long 'til Nassau finances were slapped into line? Oh, sorry. We're still waiting on most of those.

Doing hard stuff is hard, it turns out. Delaying doesn't make it any easier; it just puts the hard stuff off. But how we learned to love delay! We were high-school crammers. We were repeated abusers of the snooze button. We came to understand soon enough: "Never putting off until tomorrow" or the one about the early bird and the worm was nothing but empty words. So of course, people in public life proudly put off until tomorrow. What else can they do, these not-so-early birds? Sit around Florida diners at 3 in the afternoon?

NOT SO FAST

1. The early bird . . . will just have to wait around for everyone else.

2. Never put off until tomorrow . . . what you can put off 'til next week.

3. A journey of a thousand miles . . . is too damn far to walk.

4. You've made your bed . . . now what do you say to a really long nap?

5. Don't let the door . . . make you feel like you have to go.

ASKED AND UNANSWERED: Is it really 30 years? By now, Harry Chapin really would be "W-O-L-D"! . . . Great name, Carmageddon -- but don't all the L.A. traffic stories make you appreciate the (comparatively) free-flowing LIE? . . . Are sharks actually swimming closer to shore? Or are sightings just getting more play this summer? Fishermen report quite a few threshers and small makos enjoying beachside swims . . . Is University of North Dakota sophomore Brock Nelson, last year's first-round entry draft pick, the future of the New York Islanders? He has big skates to fill as grandson, great-nephew and nephew of Olympic hockey champs . . . The Mets and Yanks have the Subway Series, but can't we do better than the proposed Expressway Series between the LI Ducks and Frank Boulton's Nassau dream team? . . . Why the business-group schism over the Coliseum plan? Vision Long Island and the Long Island Association are for it; the Association for a Better Long Island is against. In big-dollar development tussles, aren't these groups usually on the same side? . . . Sick of big-dollar charity golf tournaments and their sky-high greens fees? A bargain and worthy alternative: Tuesday's Nine-Hole and Mini-Golf Outing and Networking Event (and dinner at Bella Verde) sponsored by the Long Island Center for Business and Professional Women.

LONG ISLANDER OF THE WEEK: THE POTTER KIDS

Miles from Hogwarts, Long Island has always been major "Harry Potter" terrain, as we were reminded again late Thursday night. Huge throngs gathered at local theaters for midnight screenings of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2," billed as the final chapter in the series. They came as they always have: In robes and scarves and Harry glasses, waving wands and trading spells. And this much was clear: The real spell in the land of "Harry" was never witchcraft or wizardry or goofy costumes. It was how those books -- and the movies that followed them -- inspired so many children to read so well. Now that's magic!

Email ellis@henican.com

Follow on Twitter @henican