"Require a strategic ability that GOP leaders, particularly in the House, have yet to prove they have..."

Democratic control of Congress, 2007-2010 (two years with Pres. Bush and two with Pres. Obama), was among the most productive in US history. As a staffer, it left me exhausted but with a tremendous feeling of accomplishment, like when a burst of energy lets you get through a 5-page list of household to-do items you've been putting off for months.

In contrast, the last four years of Republican control of the House, 2011-2014, have been like those days where you can't even buy bread -- just about the most basic act of adulthood -- without drama because your 4-year-old has taken off his shoes and is lying in the aisle screaming for candy.

Every single act of governing has been a struggle and a crisis, no matter how elemental or routine. I'm left feeling exhausted, but with nothing accomplished, because I've been forced to use up all of my energy just passing a straight funding bill, the household equivalent of putting on socks.

Will next Congress under a united Republican House and Senate be any better? For months I've been saying "Not a chance!" to anyone who will listen, and here comes Congressional Quarterly to back me up:

Successfully advancing their agenda will require a strategic ability that GOP leaders, particularly in the House, have yet to prove they have. And any missteps could doom their 2016 White House prospects. ... Most Senate Republicans know that hard-line conservatives’ demands are unrealistic, but previously they’ve been able to blame Reid. If Republicans have the majority, that’s no longer an option.

Though it's been fun for Republicans to blame Harry Reid and Pres. Obama, the biggest struggles have not been Democrat v. Republican, but rather Republican v. Republican. I've watched in amusement/disgust/horror/now resignation as House Republicans couldn't even pass a transportation spending bill at their preferred level -- again, an act so simple it's like putting on socks.

Now they're going to try to write a budget that cuts even deeper than that level? No way. The next two years are not going to be a Republican fire quenched only by Pres. Obama. They are going to be a non-stop civil war. And two years from now? Democrats will once again control the Senate and the White House while Republicans retain the House... and we'll be right back where we are now.

I feel tired just writing about it.

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A Mile Wide, An Inch Deep

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