Congress' Political Pork Sausage

Dana Milbank's article A Horse and Pony Show is a look at the bailout legislation and specifically how Congress is conducting the negotiations around the bill. It ain't pretty, but I guess that Otto von Bismarck was right:

Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made.

I'd like to see the Dems do a better job of creating legislation. I hope Obama is able to change the Democrats' partisan, spendthrift ways. Right now, it seems that my fears about unchecked Democratic rule are coming true.

The Senate version seems to have less pork than the House version, so I hope the version that comes out of committee looks more like the relatively bi-partisan Senate measure. Donklephant's Alan Stewart Carl wrote Many Americans Still Wary of Stimulus which mirrors my thoughts pretty well. The last paragraph is on-target:

I actually expect elements of the stimulus to work. I just hope the economic gain far outweighs the wastefulness. I had higher hopes for Obama and the Democrats.

Frankly, I still have high hopes for Obama, but have always been expecting the Dems in Congress to screw things up. Maybe it will get better.