Welcome Back, My Friends, To The Farce That Never Ends

David Broder looks at the actual achievements of the Democrat's first year in control of Congress and judges them against the claims of those achievements being made by Nancy Pelosi. He finds more than a bit of illusion in the press releases. This will doubtless fill his email box with love letters from the far left, but he's quite right. The actual accomplishments were few and far between – unless you count the main achievement: actually getting lower in the polls than the Republican led Congress managed.

While surveys by The Post and other news organizations show that the public believes little or nothing of value has been accomplished in a year of bitter partisan wrangling on Capitol Hill, Pelosi claims that "the House has had a remarkable level of achievement over the first year, passing 130 key measures — with nearly 70 percent passing with significant bipartisan support."

That figure is achieved by setting the bar conveniently low — measuring as bipartisan any issue in which even 50 House Republicans broke ranks to vote with the Democrats. Thus, a party-line vote in which Democrats supported but most Republicans opposed criminal penalties for price-gouging on gasoline was converted, in Pelosi's accounting, into a "bipartisan" vote because it was backed by 56 Republicans.

There is more sleight of hand in her figures. Among the "key measures" counted in the news release are voice votes to protect infants from unsafe cribs and high chairs, and votes to require drain covers in pools and spas. Such wins bulk up the statistics. Many other "victories" credited to the House were later undone by the Senate, including all the restrictions on the deployment of troops in Iraq. And on 46 of the measures passed by the House, more than one-third of the total, the notation is added, "The president has threatened to veto," or has already vetoed, the bill.

One would think that this high level of institutional warfare would be of concern to the Democrats. But there is no suggestion in this recital that any adjustment to the nation's priorities may be required. If Pelosi is to be believed, the Democrats will keep challenging the Bush veto strategy for the remaining 12 months of his term — and leave it up to him to make any compromises.

Any bragging about passing a bill in the lower house that ultimately dies in the Senate or on the red-hot veto pen of the President is so disingenuous that it borders on outright hallucination. I've never thought that was a good idea, no matter what party indulges in it. Nor do I think it fools the voters although politicians keep trying it. The polls paint the picture of a failed Congress – and everyone but Nancy Pelosi appears to be able to detect that. Had Pelosi done what she promised, tried to work on real bipartisan solutions, she might have actually accomplished something. Coming into an election year, that will no longer be an option. Look for the second session to be even less productive than the first one. Broder also points out something I have said all along. The leading Democrats in the race for the nomination are serving in the Congress. Voters with a low opinion of that Congress may well be adverse to promoting a member of that dismal body to the Presidency.