In the first weeks following the terror attack of 9/11, there seemed to be a spiritual reawakening across the nation.

People seemed move civil. Churches were full. People seemed more giving and concerned for their fellow man.

Even in Washington there was this sense of bipartisan that was unheard of in recent years.

The honeymoon is over.

And the messenger of partisanship is Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle.

Daschle is essentially blocking W's domestic agenda at every turn. Simultaneously, he's waving the flag behind W's handling of the war against terrorism.

Of course Daschle knows full well the pitfalls of going against W on the terror issue. With W's approval rating in the high 80s of percentage points, no self-respecting Democrat would risk taking him to task.

And according to a recent Wall Street Journal piece, Daschle is currently involved in some really serious obstructionism.

W asked Congress to pass three main items before it adjourns for the year - trade authority, energy and economic stimulus.

So far, Daschle has made it his mission to keep those issues off the Senate floor.

I suppose I can understand his stand on energy. He knows Alaskan drilling has enough votes to pass and he's against it.

As for the trade authority, well, trade is never a happy topic among union types. And everybody knows money flows from the unions to the Demos.

So that stuff I can understand. But the economic stimulus thing? That's just mean.

I mean really, apparently Daschle doesn't want to stimulate the economy.

The Journal reports that Daschle is refusing to even discuss an economic stimulus package unless Bush goes along with a bunch more domestic spending.

More spending. Right now. Economy aside. Cost of the war on terror aside. Daschle wants more domestic spending.

Wouldn't it be a good time to cut spending? Sure, but Daschle never talks about that.

He's too busy pounding away at the newly announced projection of a budget deficit. On Thursday, he was beating on a pie chart pontificating that the fresh deficits - get this - had nothing to do with the economic slowdown or the war on terror.

No, no. You see, the budget problems we now face were caused solely by the evil tax cut engineered by the W administration.

Daschle's setting the stage. He's planning to hang all the bad stuff in the economy on W's tax cut. Part of the strategy is to make sure an economic stimulus package doesn't pass anytime soon.

What is important to Daschle? A farm bill and railroad retirement bill. Not insignificant pieces of legislation, but certainly not what one would place ahead of things like energy and the economy - especially right now.

But frankly, I bet Daschle would like to see the recession hang on through the next election cycle. That way he can blame W and hopefully get more Democrats elected to the house and Senate.

In the meantime, be ready to hear lots about how W screwed up the economy with a tax cut. Be ready to hear how dire the budget situation is. Be ready to hear how we don't need tax relief and in fact may have to endure a tax increase. Be ready to hear how we need more, not less, government spending. Be ready to hear how we need expanded, not reduced, government programs.

Can someone explain to me how sucking money out of the private sector, laundering it through a Washington bureaucracy and sending it back in the form of a targeted benefit helps the economy?

I believe Daschle should get moving on trade, energy and economic stimulus instead of playing politics.

And if he doesn't, I hope the American public is wise enough to see through the game. [[In-content Ad]]