The Do-Nothing Pelosi/Reid Congress

San Fran Nan is doing her best to blame others for the failure of the Congress run by her and Harry Reid to accomplish anything significant in six months of work:

The problem for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi isn't just President Bush. It's the Senate.

Pelosi sounded more apologetic than celebratory Friday when she announced with her Senate counterpart, Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democrats' list of accomplishments six months after they seized control of Capitol Hill and promised "a new direction" in Washington.

"I'm not happy with Congress, either," Pelosi, of San Francisco, conceded.

She pinned the blame on "the obstructionism of the Republicans in the United States Senate."

Immigration has joined Iraq, stem cell research, Medicare drug pricing, the 9/11 Commission's recommendations and other promises in the dustbin of the current Congress. Heading into a July Fourth recess after a bruising failure on immigration, Congress has a public approval rating in the mid-20s, lower than Bush's and no better than Republicans' ratings on the eve of their catastrophic election defeat in November, when the GOP lost control of the Senate and the House.

So little has been achieved that Reid threatened to hold the Senate in session during the August recess, the congressional equivalent of torture.

Pelosi acknowledged the rock-bottom poll numbers but argued that Congress has "never been popular." Just six months into her speakership, she was postponing many of her hopes to 2009, saying a new president could change things -- presumably assuming it wouldn't be a Republican.

In San Fran Nan's world, "obstructionism" is defined as Republicans refusing to go along with liberal legislative priorities. "Bipartisanship" is Republicans abandoning their principles and doing whatever Democrats want.

I'm all for obstructionism.