FQ, you obviously missed that ultimate brown-noser (for the dems of course) Paul Krugman writing in the NYT last week about how bho doesn't seem to have a plan, or even a clue how to manage this budget effort. Dowd is a panty-waist compared to Krugman.
Besides, it is supposed to be entertaining, it is theater after all, it was going to go this way all along, right down to the wire.