The Kroog Versus The Shelby Shakedown

Paul Krugman bemoans Senate rules that allow Republicans to keep government from basically doing much of anything these days...anything except hold the government hostage.

And with the national G.O.P. having abdicated any responsibility for making things work, it’s only natural that individual senators should feel free to take the nation hostage until they get their pet projects funded.

The truth is that given the state of American politics, the way the Senate works is no longer consistent with a functioning government. Senators themselves should recognize this fact and push through changes in those rules, including eliminating or at least limiting the filibuster. This is something they could and should do, by majority vote, on the first day of the next Senate session.

Don’t hold your breath. As it is, Democrats don’t even seem able to score political points by highlighting their opponents’ obstructionism.

It should be a simple message (and it should have been the central message in Massachusetts): a vote for a Republican, no matter what you think of him as a person, is a vote for paralysis. But by now, we know how the Obama administration deals with those who would destroy it: it goes straight for the capillaries. Sure enough, Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, accused Mr. Shelby of “silliness.” Yep, that will really resonate with voters.

He's got a point.  Republicans are quite content to let the country burn in order to get back into the majority.  Obama's response?  Inviting the GOP to air their grievances, when the grievance they wish to air is "If you refuse to pass our 100% Republican legislation, then nothing will get done." 

At some point Obama has to give up the idiocy of bipartisanship.  If he doesn't, the GOP will simply continue to fiddle while the country goes to hell.