I don't have the wonkish fever to follow things like the recent political drama over the "Nuclear Option" in great detail, but the situation has come to a close. The outcome: three pretty extreme conservatives will make it to the appelate court and the Senate will not change its rules to strip the minority party of its right to filibuster. Here's a detailed analysis of the actual text of the compromise, if you want.

My Take
Ont he face of it, it doesn't look like much of a victory for Democrats. Basically three people who are right-wing ideologues get lifetime jobs on the bench. Boo. However, the reality is that the amount of political capital this has cost the GOP makes it largely a loosing proposition from their end. Also, the 9th Circut (one of the few courts that can still be relied on for the kinds of opinions I like to see) will not be touched.

Net-net, it's a bad thing in the short term for the country, but it's not a calamity that these people get to be judges. More importantly, in the long political game it's going to weaken the Radical Conservative movement, and as such is a victory for anyone who's alarmed with the direction the government has been taking over the past 25 years or so.

In particular it's going to dampen the political enthusiasm of some of the Dominionist christians, a largely inexperienced population who comprised a lot of the first-time voters who came out for Bush back in November. As a compromise, it should also irk the hard-right radio crowd and the warbloggers. Finally, this deal will seriously impair Sen. Majority leader Bill Frist's chances of making a run for the White House in 2008. He didn't bet his political life on this fight, but he wagered an arm and a leg, and it's not often that double-amputees make it to the Oval Office.

In truth, with one party (the GOP) in control of the process, this is a decent outcome for anyone who opposes the animating ideas of that party. It's also nice that compomise is still possible, as in better times this is the nature of democratic governance. Bottom line: if Dems had been able to lock up the necessary defectors to win a vote on changing the Senate rules, that would have been a triumph, but this is still a strategic victory.

Bush and the Washington Republicans are taking a bath on matters of public opinion and they've been unable to make any headway on their major initiatives. At this rate, it seems unlikely that they retain enough political capital to propose any new policy (e.g. a national sales tax) and barring a major change in the geopolitical situation they will be forced to begin bringing our involvement in Iraq to a close within the next year or so to avoid crushing political consequences.

Assuming the Democrats can put together the message, money and organization to capitalize on this, better political times are coming. The question then is whether or not Democrats will successfully reframe the national debate and forge a real governing consensus, or whether we'll get another round of trench warfare. I'm hoping for the former because there are large problems facing humanity, and Public action will be needed to effectively deal with them.