George W. Bush is both out of control and out of gas, but nobody in Washington D.C. seems willing to pry the steering wheel from his cold dead hands. All indications are, in fact, just the opposite. That is, the Democratic Party seems collectively content to go into a stall offense, passing the buck back and forth until time expires. Democrats are already looking ahead to next year, when they seem almost certain to pad their totals in Congress and reclaim the White House.

At a hearing this week, House Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-WI) explained this strategy to Bush's Education Secretary, Margaret Spellings, "If the administration doesn't want to deal, if they don't want to compromise ... then we're simply in a waiting game, and we'll deal with a president who does."