Resistance is (Not Quite) Futile

Quick reaction to the passage of Obama's budget:

It's good to see that the GOP has finally decided to take the whole "loyal opposition" idea seriously. If there's a twelve-step program for parties recovering from irrelevance, the Republicans have just completed the first two:

1) Stop running around like a chicken with your head cut off

Done. It took a little longer then we might like, but what can you do?

2) Actually start fighting back

To win in politics, you have to be willing to engage your enemy. There's no dancing around that. Bipartisanship is nice, but in the end, somebody's knuckles are going to get bloody. Politics is boxing without the punching--unless you happen to be Cynthia McKinney.

To extend the boxing metaphor a little further: a prizefighter isn't going to win anything if he never goes into the ring. You might not ever lose, either, but what good is a perfect record when it's 0-0?

So kudos to the Republicans for finally standing up to Obama. The easy part is done. Now on to step three in the process:

3) Start coming up with good ideas

There are nine others after that, but this is pretty much the only one that matters. So--ideas! Anybody got some good ones? Not yet? Well, keep thinking. We've still got a year or two before we need to start worrying.