If they grit their teeth Democrats can get this done

Yes, health care.

Reconciliation is the secret weapon, if only the Democrats have the fortitude to use it.

It will take courage and little bit of thick skin. The Freepers, teabaggers and birthers will scream bloody murder, and there will be a few days of hand-wringing on the cable news shows about the Democrats having the temerity to give up on bipartisanship. But in the end it's a process issue, and only Beltway talkers and insiders care about process issues. People do care about the policy that comes out as as result, not the intricacies of obscure Senate procedural rules. How many people care anymore, 6 years later, that House Republicans held the vote open for three hours past the time limit, into the dark of the night, to bludgeon wavering Republicans into voting for the Medicare drug bill? Sure, the Democrats screamed bloody murder about that for days, but the criticisms tapered off, and people ended up caring more about the policy that resulted---Medicare Part D (I know it's flawed, but that's a discussion for another time).

Some Democrats from shaky districts will have to be Profiles in Courage, and they will have to be willing to sacrifice their seats in Congress (maybe the White House can promise to take care of them with cushy ambassadorships or something). They will have to be willing to incur the wrath of the right wingers back home. Yet they are better off voting for a good bill that keeps Democratic voters loyal in 2010, as they will need every Democratic voter in their district to show up, as opposed to voting for a crummy bill (or getting no bill at all), in which case they will definitely lose anyway when Democratic voters take a walk. Better to lose your seat standing for something and fighting for something, than farting around and doing nothing.

........ 7 months of the quest for the golden grail of bipartisanship ....... all a set up for this moment.