Right now, Democrats can blame Republicans for Senate inaction:

That's some serious GOP obstructionism. Unprecedented.

Democrats can end that by eliminating the filibuster when the new organizing resolution is passed at the beginning of the next Senate. But apparently, too many Senate Democrats hate progress, and would rather have the filibuster as a handy excuse for inaction.

Five Senate Democrats have said they will not support a lowering of the 60-vote bar necessary to pass legislation. Another four lawmakers say they are wary about such a change and would be hesitant to support it. A 10th Democrat, Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), said he would support changing the rule on filibusters of motions to begin debate on legislation, but not necessarily the 60-vote threshold needed to bring up a final vote on bills... Senior Democrats say Reid will not have the votes to change the rule at the beginning of next year. “It won’t happen,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who said she would “probably not” support an effort to lower the number of votes needed to cut off filibusters from 60 to 55 or lower. Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) echoed Feinstein: “I think we should retain the same policies that we have instead of lowering it. “I think it has been working,” he said.

Ha ha ha ha! "It's been working". In what world? It's a fantastic tool for Republican obstructionists, for corporatist Democrats, for attention whores like Ben Nelson and Joe Lieberman who get to wield veto power over chamber legislation, and for anyone in the chamber who doesn't want clear accountability and democracy.

Fact is, Democrats have the tools to eliminate GOP obstructionism. If they don't use them, then they won't have anyone to blame but themselves for their chamber's inability to do shit. And if you think 59 has been painful, just wait until we're down to 54-56 seats (or worse). The Obama presidency will be effectively over, even if he sticks around until 2016.

(Via Digby.)