The Senate Republicans, with plenty of help from bumbling Democrats, have finally done it. They have succeeded in paralyzing the government, and ensuring that absolutely none of “the peoples” business will be accomplished in the near future. They did not accomplish this objective through normal “parliamentary” give and take, but rather by stone-walling every initiative with procedural roadblocks. The strategy has not been to oppose legislation with “No” votes. It has been to use procedural maneuvers to ensure that legislation never has a chance to be …

In essence, the power to enact significant legislation has passed to a few Senators (e.g. Joe Lieberman), whose swing votes were garnered by making major concessions to important provisions within the bill. A lasting legacy of the 2009 health care reform debate will most likely be anger among partisans on both sides of the aisle.