Meanwhile, Back To Kabuki

Theda Skocpol, a better writer when she writes short, reminds us in this comment on TPM:

What all of us need to realize now -- and that includes TPM's Congressional reporters -- is that with Brown's victory in MA, the chances for any legislative as opposed to sound-bite progress have dimmed, EXCEPT where 50-51 votes work in the Senate. And using that path where it can be used depends on the White House and Senate leadership getting cracking. No evidence of that so far. The evidence will not be very public, but TPM reporters and others should see evidence of action behind the scenes in framing and assembling "budget" type packages. If there is no ingenuity on getting around the proceduring roadblocks, that will be evidence that Obama and the Dems have retreated into using symbolic gestures to get all of us ginned up to write checks to save a few seats. Foolish if we fall for that -- we need to demand as much maneuvering through the procedural hurdles from Dems as the Republicans managed with far fewer seats in Congress.