It’s official. The Congressional super committee that was supposed to pull the country out of its financial and legislative morass has failed. The group has muffed its responsibility to find $1.2 trillion in deficit reductions.

Even though Wall Street is rumbling as a result, the result should come as a shock to no one. The committee was structurally designed to fail.

It was stacked with Republicans who are sworn never to raise taxes for any conceivable reason–all six members have reportedly signed Grover Norquist’s no tax pledge. And Democrat Nancy Pelosi responded by stacking the committee with uber-liberals, at least according to conservative critics.

Which gives this pronouncement from the National Journal the feel of a Hollywood obit written many years before the event.

The committee, in the end, could not resolve that Republicans would not go as far as Democrats wanted on allowing more revenue raisers, and Democrats did not want to move on entitlement reforms. Intense messaging by both political parties on which was more to blame is surely to spill out for days, if not months.