Believe it when I see it...

U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning (R-of course, Batshit Crazy) last night lifted his hold on legislation to, among other things, extend unemployment benefits for millions of Americans. Earlier comment here.

This morning, Steve Benen at the invaluable Washington Monthly quotes a Senate Dem staffer as saying, among other things, "Bunning lifted the curtain on the great lengths that Republicans go to drag out every single action taken by the Senate, no matter how routine.... It's why all options are on the table moving forward, including reconciliation."

Yeah. Okay. Fine.

I will acknowledge the Bunning Episode embodies many of the Rethuglican obstructionist memes Dems should have been employing for the last several months. It's tailor-made for Dems to use against them now and when the mid-terms heat up.

But I have no doubts Dems will figure out a way to fumble this FSM-given gift and utterly fail to use it for its maximum effectiveness. Yes, part of the reason is the media will not pick up on Rethuglican obstructionism. Another part of the reason is DC is just wired for Rethuglican rule. These factors, of course, result in self-denying prophecies and further the status quo.

But the ultimate reason Dems won't maximize this opportunity is they don't want to. They'd rather do just barely enough to get by, leaving this and other unfinished business on the table. Then, during an election, they can point to all the broken promises and various other things needing to get done and say, "Elect us, we'll fix all this."

But it never gets fixed, creating a self-sustaining cycle of unfinished business and electoral tension. Of course, it also gives the media more of what it craves: horse-race coverage.

After all, if we fixed everything that needs fixing, why would we need a Congress, a political party, a media establishment or a federal government?

DCr