After Financial Bill, Marveling That Congress Is Actually Getting Stuff Done

That's one way of looking at it

People are both praising the scale of the final version of financial regulatory reform, and pointing out its shortcomings. Now, in the past few hours, another trend has emerged in reaction to the bill: awe that despite Congress's wild unpopularity, Democrats are nevertheless getting stuff done. Here's a few data points on this emerging strain of commentary.

• 'Hardly a Do-Nothing Congress,' say NBC's First Read team. Last night's deal "is yet another reminder about how much the White House and the Democratic-controlled Congress have done in the past year and a half (stimulus, health care, Wall Street reform, perhaps energy)." Of course, they admit that "Republicans would argue it's a Do-Too-Much Congress."

• Agreed: Poll Respondents Perhaps Being Unfair "It's worth noting," argues Greg Sargent at The Washington Post, "that Obama and Congressional Dems are actually doing a lot of the stuff they said they'd do. This Congress is piling up a list of reforms and accomplishments that put it on track to be a very productive one, in jarring contrast to Congress' abysmal approval ratings."

• Accomplishment for Obama, as Well Politico's Carrie Budoff Brown and Meredith Shiner say the last night "left no doubt about the mark Obama has left on his twin Democratic majorities in Congress--reluctant, even recalcitrant at times, but in the end, doing his bidding to remake two of the most important sectors of the U.S. economy."