What will be worse? Passing a deeply unpopular measure on a party line vote, or failing to pass the signature legislation of a generation of their party?

I suspect if the bills fail to work their way through reconciliation to the President’s desk, the howls about how the other party refused to participate or cooperate in this historic reform will be highly counterproductive. But maybe not as counterproductive as actually signing a bill that is exposed as the worst kind of toxic byproduct of the grubby sausage-making house that is Congress.

How a Congress at the lowest double-digit levels of voter esteem thinks a partisan mash-up of corruption and policy incoherence can rebound to the institution’s benefit, or even the majority party’s benefit, is beyond me. The frenzy for power seems to overlook the long term benefits of trust, something the independents seem to no longer associate with the political class, and which applies especially to the majority of this Congress.