Yeah, these things are true, but I think that needs to be baked into the calculus on these bills: getting them passed isn't even half the battle - if you don't

Yeah, these things are true, but I think that needs to be baked into the calculus on these bills: getting them passed isn't even half the battle - if you don't have an answer for how to get the money down to the ground, the law's just an interesting piece of paper. On the one hand, fixing the dysfunction at the state level is, you're right, outside the purview of the Feds - although when the Democratic governor and Democratic legislature of a state and the Democratic mayors and city councils of the city are where the money's stopped, I think that's still a rock you can throw at the Democratic party. I also think there's still a belief (fading, thank god) among the Democrats that if they do the right thing and the Republicans stymie them, they'll get credit and the Republicans will lose face (call this the Obama theory of polite governance). At the end of the day, passing bills that get blocked by the opposition doesn't show people your virtues, it shows them your inability to get things done.