Ghosts and demons, or how to describe the American economy

One liberal site splashes Gothic all over the American federal budget battle.

First, it's ghosts.

[John Maynard] Keynes died in 1946. But his ghost hovered over America's economic debate until pretty much Monday night. 

Next, demons. 

At that time, in their ostensibly dueling speeches, both President Obama and House Speaker Boehner embraced the language of "austerity" and performed an unwitting exorcism.

(I think the author intended the target to be the ghost, not a demon, but didn't have a good word other than "exorcism", and "laying to rest" is perhaps too clumsy)

Then some gloomy weather to complete the scene:

When President Obama used to meet with British Prime Minister David Cameron, for all their apparent bonhomie, a dark cloud hung over their relationship. It was the cloud of economic policy...

It's a solid use of Gothic rhetoric, since the post is describing a dark, dismal situation.  There's some referential irony as well, since exorcisms are supposed to be positive events, when successful.  And maybe the insinuation that Keynes was (until now) a ghost/demon afflicting Republicans.