How about a history lesson? At this point in 2009, after both passage of the Recovery and Reinvestiment Act AND completion of the framework for rescuing the auto industry, committees in both the House and Senate have taken up bills that will, over the next eight months, evolve into the Affordable Care Act. The entire process will take place in the open with intense media coverage and widespread discussion. And this month also sees the ramping up of a campaign to "infiltrate and disrupt" town hall meetings of democratic legislators who support health care reform. And barely a month remains before Orly Taitz (the original White Walker) will burst onto televsion and computer screens across the nation.

But, of course, the White House is already engulfed in scandal. This week, it's Gates-Gate. Remember, the time when the President had the audacity to voice an opinion regarding police conduct? He didn't even use Twitter. There will be no real investigation, no hearings, and the Administration will quash the affair by staging the famous "beer summit."

Kinda puts today's legislative triumphs and trivial scandals in perspective, doesn't it?